Author(s)

Alicia Villavicencio^1*, Chang Hwan Park¹, Kangjin Cho¹, Rona Bae¹, Diego Peñaherrera², Gabriela Narváez², Victoria López², José Camacho², Jovanny Suquillo², Fausto Yumisaca², Cesar Asaquibay², María Nieto², David Ortega³, Verónica Quimbiamba³, Cristian Torres³, Edwin Naranjo³, Stalin Cuenca³, Ricardo Alvarez³

¹Korean Program on International Agriculture and Technology—KOPIA, Quito, Ecuador.
²Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias—INIAP, Quito, Ecuador.
³Extension Services KOPIA-INIAP, Quito, Ecuador.

Ecuador potato crop is family based production system. Potato production has two roles in their economy, the first is providing food for their families and the second is a source of income for the household. However small scale farmers have limited access to local markets and most of the sales are through intermediates’ who purchase directly in the field at the lowest price possible. Potato production challenges for the small-scale farmers are among others availability of quality potato seed, direct sales, purchase of agrochemical inputs to maintain their crops and lack of education. In 2021, only 4% of potato farmers used certified seed. Potato yield is still low around 16.1 t·ha^-1, in the last 10 years the total potato cultivated area was reduced by at least 50%. The farmers produce “Bokashi” and other organic fertilizer and these are effective to improve soil fertility and plant health. Homemade bio-pesticides reduce agrochemical pesticides. The Decision Support System (DSS) is a handheld device to control late blight, minimizes fungicide applications and improve fungicide rotation. In 2018 Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (Lso), the causal agent of zebra chip, and its vector, the potato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli, together created havoc for farmers and researchers. Promotion of early potato varieties INIAP—Libertad is an alternative to lower the impact of this newest pest.

Potato, Yield, Small-Scale Farmers, Agro-Ecological Production, Quality Seed

Villavicencio, A. , Park, C. , Cho, K. , Bae, R. , Peñaherrera, D. , Narváez, G. , López, V. , Camacho, J. , Suquillo, J. , Yumisaca, F. , Asaquibay, C. , Nieto, M. , Ortega, D. , Quimbiamba, V. , Torres, C. , Naranjo, E. , Cuenca, S. and Alvarez, R. (2022) Sustainable Potato Production in the Mountain Area of Ecuador, an Approach to Increase Productivity with Small Scale Farmers. Agricultural Sciences, 13, 1080-1090. doi: 10.4236/as.2022.1310066.