Bolivia: Leonel, the young Bolivian fighting to preserve up to 40 varieties of native potatoes
Leonel Mejía, an 18-year-old Bolivian, inspired by his grandfather’s heritage and agricultural knowledge, has dedicated himself since the age of 12 to classifying and preserving up to 40 varieties of potatoes native to his community in the Andean hig
At more than 4,200 meters above sea level in the community of Chiarumani, in the Bolivian Altiplano, Leonel and his family are dedicated to agriculture. At nine years old, his grandfather Eusebio’s flower garden sparked his curiosity about plants and their care, and at 12, he began to take an interest in Andean tubers, thus beginning a catalog to classify native varieties and their characteristics.
The catalog is now available in both print and digital formats, and Leonel hopes to continue finding and adding new varieties.
"With climate change, producers are becoming accustomed to producing a single variety of potatoes that are easier to harvest and cook," Leonel said.
According to the young farmer, only five varieties of potatoes are produced in the nearby communities, and this has caused many native varieties to become extinct.
The National Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Innovation (INIAF) in Bolivia conserves more than 1,500 potato species in its Germplasm Bank at the Toralapa Experimental Station, but only about 30 of these are regularly cultivated due to limited commercial demand.
Leonel told EFE that varieties can be saved by understanding their characteristics, such as the Imilla variety, which, according to the farmer, is a potato "very resistant to frost," which is very common in the Bolivian highlands.
For the young man, there are opportunities to save native potatoes, and one is for consumers to seek them out and ask for them in markets so that producers know they must be preserved.
Leonel has made it his mission to "learn and teach" within his community, and although he said it’s difficult for the elders to change their way of producing, he sees hope for preservation in the younger ones.
He also considers potatoes to be Bolivia’s cultural heritage and lamented that Peru takes advantage of the potential of Andean tubers more than Bolivia.
Leonel recently welcomed chef Sean Sherman of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation, recognized worldwide for his work in vindicating indigenous native cuisine in the United States, and several chefs from renowned Bolivian restaurants who learned about his catalog and work within the "Program for the Vindication of Indigenous Cuisines of the Americas" of the United States Embassy fund and the Gustu restaurant.
The young man, who began his engineering studies this year, taught chefs how to harvest and identify native varieties, and they brought some varieties to cook in their restaurants, thus opening up the possibility of marketing potatoes for preservation.
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