"The crosses we are developing between wild, drought-tolerant varieties and modern potatoes now are for the future," said Meredith Bonierbale, senior potato breeder at the International Potato Center in Lima.
"We have to work fast because drought may be a serious issue soon."
The center is also developing varieties that mature faster to reduce exposure to an unpredictable climate.
But climate change and habitat fragmentation are also threatening the biodiversity of wild potato species—which range from Argentina to the Rocky Mountains—and their genetic resources.
The species endemic to high altitudes are particularly in danger to changes in temperature and precipitation.
"As genetic resources, the wild relatives are the foundation of agriculture and are continuously used for improvement," said Andy Jarvis, an agricultural geographer with Bioversity International in Cali, Colombia.
"But they're not yet fully confirmed in gene banks, and you never know what you need in the future."
According to Jarvis's research, 16 to 22 percent of all wild potato species are threatened with extinction by 2055 as a result of climate change and habitat destruction.
"Even if we halt habitat loss, in the next 50 years, climate change could undo all of the conservation that we already have," said Jarvis.
The native tuber varieties that Andean farmers like Rosales and his family have developed over millennia are also at risk of extinction.
"Households often have to replace native tuber crops with more widely available and less diverse varieties when their harvests decline or they are devastated by pests, freezes, or extreme weather," said Bury of UC-Santa Cruz.
Rosales says the farmers of Coyllurqui need technical assistance from plant breeders and other experts to avert a hunger crisis.
"We are a small municipality but we are asking everyone for help," he said.
"We are struggling now and we are conscious that down the line, climate change is going to get worse."
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