Perhaps the most well-known case is from South America which illustrates the extent of the knowledge that women have of seed diversity in their area. A few of the older women farmers in the Quechua communities of the Andes have been found to hold specialized knowledge of plant breeding, which has been handed down and improved over generations. However, a few of the old women farmers in the province of Cuzco, use true potato seed, a practice which has been all but abandoned. Older people who came to their community from the highlands to help with the harvest taught the Quechua women about the fruit of the potato plant, which contains the seed and this traditional method of propagation. Since the potato's centre of origin is in the Andes, there are countless varieties in the region.
People have different uses for each type.
Using seed for propagation enables the women to breed new varieties with characteristics which they themselves choose. Before harvesting the potato crop, the women collect the fruits and store them in a large ceramic bowl outside the house where they remain until the following October. By then they have become black and rotten. Allowing the fruits to rot before planting the seeds is an essential part of the process, since it produces chemicals which activate the dormant seeds prior to germination. The seeds are planted just before the rains, and the plants are allowed to grow until they produce tiny tubers.