The T’ikapapa initiative, which packs and markets specially selected Peruvian native potatoes, has won one of five UN-sponsored SEED Awards for 2007 after being selected from among 230 proposals from 70 countries.

The SEED Awards are an international initiative backed by the World Conservation Union, the United Nations Environment Program, the United Nations Development Program, the ­governments of Germany, the United States, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and South Africa and Swiss Re, a private reinsurance company.

The announcement of the award to T’ikapapa coincided with the celebration in Peru of the National Day of the Potato, which has been held annually since 2005.

In choosing T’ikapapa, the award organizers acknowledged the fact that the initiative’s innovative concept which links small-scale producers of native potatoes to new urban markets, helping to add value to the products.

This approach makes it possible to increase the income of the members of the High Andean communities and to promote environmental technologies that help conserve local biodiversity, an aspect of the project which was also recognized by the jury.

According to the jury, a number of other factors were taken into account when T’ikapapa was selected:

• The commercial success of T´ikapapa as a gourmet product that increases the value of biodiversity to the small-scale producers.
• The increase in the income of 300 small-scale producers in the Peruvian Andes who now receive 30% more for their potatoes, compared to other market segments.
• The stimulation of innovation within a framework of public-private partnerships, and motivation of investments important for the development of the product.
• The development of a new model to promote responsible businesses on the basis of the biodiversity of the native potatoes and knowledge that can be used in other areas.

T’ikapapa is one of the products launched on the market as part of a project to revalue the native potato and position it in the national and international market. The project is sponsored by the International Potato Center (CIP) with financing from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The SEED Awards jury also recognized that a key factor for the success of the project was theparticipatory process that increased the participants’ confidence to develop a product that was attractive to all the members. Those members were:

• Organizations of Andean community producers.
• A small private business devoted to the processing of native potatoes.
• CAPAC Peru, a public-private partnership aimed at disseminating criteria of quality in the market of the potatoes.
• The Wong Corporation, a chain of supermarkets that has been promoting the trade in native potatoes.
• The INCOPA Project (Innovation and Competitiveness of the Peruvian Potato), an initiative of the CIP that promotes innovation in the potato sector in Peru.

The annual SEED Awards are an incentive for entrepreneurs, communities, companies and other involved sectors throughout the world to join efforts and form partnerships to promote economic growth, social development, and the protection of the environment.