Potato is common to urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Andes. Production in this region is low as a result of various abiotic and biotic soil constraints, and the recourse to pesticides and fertilizers is frequently too expensive. Recycling of organic waste into compost and management of natural microbial soil inhabitants, which positively impact the development, nutrition and health of plants - arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR) - have been proposed as major agricultural practices to reduce chemical inputs and to improve the ecological potential and sustainability of soils in urban and peri-urban systems.
With this respect, the general objective of the proposal is to develop and investigate the combination of composted waste from urban agro-industries with indigenous microbial bio-fertilizer inoculants in order (1) to add value to urban agro-industry waste, (2) to reduce chemical-dependence of small-scale agriculturists and (3) to stimulate local collective capacities (farmers associations and NGO's) to develop micro-scale composting systems and management of microbial inoculants.