Alejandro Verastegui’s family has been farming potatoes commercially in Jauja Province, in Peru’s central Andean highlands, for three generations, and they primarily grow potato varieties that were developed by the International Potato Center (CIP). The most important variety for their business, however, is Unica: a CIP-bred, red-skinned potato that was first released in Peru in 1998 and is now grown in countries scattered across the globe.
Verastegui explained that his grandfather was one of the first farmers in Jauja to plant Unica. Its high productivity and strong market demand helped him purchase more farmland, and the family now plants more than half of that land with Unica.
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