New Caledonia

New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific, is characterized by an intertropical location with a relatively temperate climate, featuring two distinct seasons: a hot, humid period from November to April and a cooler season from May to October. The region’s climate is shaped by its topography, insularity, and the influence of El Niño and La Niña phenomena, resulting in annual rainfall variability ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 mm and marked climatic contrasts between the eastern and western coasts.

Agricultural activity is influenced by these variations, with the Bourail Plain and Central Highlands offering cooler elevations suitable for potato seed storage, cultivation, and varietal comparison trials. In contrast, lowland coastal areas are primarily utilized for sweet potato production through backyard and small-scale farming systems.

The Centre de Recherche et d’Expérimentation Agronomiques in Bourail has conducted critical trials on seed storage and field performance, while the SPC’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) has introduced 42 potato and 27 sweet potato varieties that are heat-tolerant and virus-resistant to enhance regional food security. According to FAO statistics for 2023, New Caledonia produced approximately 779.73 tonnes of potatoes and 558.49 tonnes of sweet potato.

Potatoes  are not native to New Caledonia and were introduced relatively recently, during the late 20th century, as part of broader agricultural experimentation aimed at adapting temperate crops to tropical and subtropical environments. These efforts have primarily focused on inland high-altitude sites with cooler conditions suitable for temperate crop cultivation. Since the early 2000s, the Centre de Recherche et d’Expérimentation Agronomiques (CREA) in Bourail, in collaboration with the International Potato Centre (CIP), has been at the forefront of conducting field trials and seed storage experiments to evaluate the performance and adaptability of potato varieties under local conditions.