Peruvian company Inka Crops has reportedly broken the country’s native potato export volume record after marketing 83 tons of processed potatoes, equivalent to 490,104 bags of chips, to the United States, the country’s Association of Exporters (ADEX) has revealed.

The purchase was made possible thanks to the agreement made with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) Fovida and Cednco, responsible for planting planning, technical advice on cultivation, and monitoring of the 299 farmers in the 25 communities where the potatoes came from.

In turn, Inka Crops evaluated the quality of the raw material and was responsible for logistics and the realization of the final product, which is on sale in the U.S. market since August of this year. All crops were cultivated with good practices and, in some cases, in fields that have 100% organic certification.

“Our food development team worked on the product based on four varieties of native potatoes: Wenccos, CCeccorani, Huayro Macho, and Sumac sonco. These varieties were selected after testing 14 options to assess their behavior in the frying process. The result is that we have produced crispy fries with a touch of salty flavor. We have used high oleic sunflower oil to achieve low levels of saturated fat and have the non-GMO, gluten-free and Kosher certifications,” said Ignacio Garaycochea, communication manager of Inka Crops.

According to the report, next year Inka Crops wants to produce at least 500 tons of red and blue varieties in the crops from April to June. These will be processed as snacks during May to August 2020. At the end of the campaign, we expect to export approximately 120 tons of native potato chips.