New light on a hidden treasure

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE POTATO 2008

New light on a hidden

treasure

AN END-OF-YEAR REVIEW



FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Rome, 2008


treasure

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply theexpression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of itsauthorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specificcompanies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply thatthese have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are notmentioned.

The designations employed and the presentation of material in the maps do not imply the expression ofany opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country,territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers.

ISBN 978-92-5-306142-8

All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product foreducational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission fromthe copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in thisinformation product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission ofthe copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, ElectronicPublishing Policy and Support Branch, Communication Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla,00153 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected]

© FAO 2009

Foreword vAcknowledgements vi

The International Year 1

The potato 11

Potato world 47

IYP around the globe 83

Focus on a global food 99

Perspectives 111

Beyond 2008 131

IYP Secretariat, FAO Task Force and Informal International Steering Committee 136

Maps and tables

World potato production 48-49

World potato producton and consumption, by region 50-51

Africa: Potato production, 2007 52

Asia/Oceania: Potato production, 2007 58

Europe: Potato production, 2007 66

Latin America: Potato production, 2007 74

North America: Potato production, 2007 80

Contents

Foreword

The International Year of the Potato (IYP) in 2008 wasa celebration of one of humanity’s most important anduniversally loved staple foods. This end-of-year review records

IYP’s achievements and underscores its essential message: thatthe potato is a vital part of the global food system, and willplay an ever greater role in strengthening world food securityand alleviating poverty.

The review describes the rationale for the International Year, itsobjectives and implementation. It introduces our guest-of-honour,Solanum tuberosum, the “humble tuber” that spread from theAndes across six continents and changed the course of world history.Specialists from FAO and the International Potato Center deepenour knowledge of the potato in 10 factsheets on key issues in potatodevelopment. The review also provides the most recent FAO statisticson world potato production and consumption, and profiles of 52major potato producing countries.

The International Year was observed around the globe inscientific conferences, growers’ congresses, festivals, cookingcontests, art exhibitions and school projects. We present highlightsof those events, as well as the winning entries in the IYP GlobalPhotography Contest. The review concludes with viewpointsgathered from some of the world’s leading “potato people” – thosewhose daily work with the potato has become a passionate way of life– and an overview of prospects for potato development beyond 2008.

This book seeks to contribute to strengthening the potatoindustry everywhere. It will be of particular value to developingcountries that recognize the potential of the potato to driveeconomic development and sustain rural livelihoods. We sincerelytrust that, for everyone, it will throw new light on the hiddentreasure that is the potato.

Shivaji PandeyDirector, Plant Productionand Protection DivisionFood and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations

AcknowledgementsThis end-of-year review of the International Year of the Potatooffers an opportunity to convey our appreciation to those whocontributed to the remarkable success of IYP.

Thanks are extended to the former Assistant Directors-General of FAO’s Agriculture and Consumer ProtectionDepartment, Alexander Muller and Jose Maria Sumpsi Viñas,and their successor, Modibo Traoré, and to the Director of thePlant Production and Protection Division (AGP), ShivajiPandey, for their support and confidence in the IYP Secretariat.

The work of the Secretariat was led with great dedicationby NeBambi Lutaladio, of AGP, and benefited from thecollaboration of many IYP partners, particularly theInternational Potato Center and its Director General,Pamela Anderson. Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerlandprovided financial support, as did private partners such asMcCain Foods Ltd and Scott Simplot.

The Secretariat benefited from the guidance of an InformalInternational Steering Committee and FAO’s IYP Task Force,and from the enthusiasm of the “IYP team” of communicationand potato specialists. All those organizations and individualswho helped make 2008 a memorable year are listed at the backof this book.

Eric A. KuenemanIYP Task ManagerFood and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nation

“The potato is on the frontline in the fightagainst world hunger and poverty.”

Jacques DioufDirector-General, FAO

The InternationalYear

The IYP mission: to raise awarenessof the importance of the potato

– and that of agriculture in general –in addressing issues of global concern,

including hunger, povertyand threats to the environment

acted to reduce costly wheat imports byencouraging people to eat bread that includespotato flour. In China, the world’s biggestpotato producer, agriculture experts haveproposed that potatoes become the major foodcrop on much of the country’s arable land.India has plans to double its potatoproduction.

Food of the future. The International Year ofthe Potato has raised awareness of the potato’sfundamental importance as a staple food ofhumanity. But it also had a very practicalaim: to promote development of sustainable

Why potato?“A United Nations international year onceactually meant something. But what to makeof the International Year of the Potato?” So began a scathing editorial in a Canadianonline daily, which joked that IYP mightresult in a “Declaration of the rights ofpotatoes and other starchy edible tubulars”.The editorialist revealed a lack of familiaritynot only with botany – the potato is a tuber,not a “tubular” – but, above all, with thepotato’s place in agriculture, the economyand world food security.

The potato is already an integral part ofthe global food system. It is the world’snumber one non-grain food commodity, withproduction reaching a record 325 milliontonnes in 2007. Potato consumption isexpanding strongly in developing countries,which now account for more than half of theglobal harvest and where the potato’s ease ofcultivation and high energy content havemade it a valuable cash crop for millions offarmers.

At the same time, the potato – unlikemajor cereals – is not a globally tradedcommodity. Only a fraction of totalproduction enters foreign trade, and potatoprices are determined usually by localproduction costs, not by the vagaries ofinternational markets. It is, therefore, a highlyrecommended food security crop that can helplow-income farmers and vulnerableconsumers ride out the turmoil in world foodsupply and demand.

In Peru, for example, the government has

potato-based systems that enhance the well-being of producers and consumers and helprealize the potato’s full potential as a “food ofthe future”.

Over the next two decades, the world’spopulation is expected to grow on average bymore than 100 million people a year. More

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Cereal prices soaredduring 2008

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Potatoes are good for youPotatoes are rich in carbohydrates, makingthem a good source of energy. They have thehighest protein content (around 2.1 percenton a fresh weight basis) in the family of rootand tuber crops, and protein of a fairly highquality, with an amino-acid pattern that iswell matched to human requirements. Theyare also very rich in vitamin C – a single,medium-sized potato contains about half therecommended daily intake – and contain afifth of the recommended daily value ofpotassium.

Demand for potatoes is growingWorld potato production has increased at anannual average rate of 4.5 percent over thelast 10 years, and exceeded the growth inproduction of many other major foodcommodities in developing countries,particularly in Asia. While potatoconsumption has declined in Europe, it hasincreased in the developing world from lessthan 10 kg per capita in 1961-1963 to almost22 kg in 2005. Consumption of potatoes indeveloping countries is still less than a quarterof that in Europe, but all evidence suggests itwill increase strongly in the future.

than 95 percent of that increase will occur inthe developing countries, where pressure onland and water is already intense. A keychallenge facing the internationalcommunity is, therefore, to ensure foodsecurity for present and future generations,while protecting the natural resource base onwhich we all depend. The potato will be animportant part of the efforts to meet thosechallenges, for four reasons.

Potatoes are a truly global foodThe potato has been consumed in the Andes

for about 8 000 years. Brought toEurope by the Spanish in the 16thcentury, it quickly spread across theglobe: today potatoes are grown on anestimated 193 000 sq km of farmland,from China’s Yunnan plateau and thesubtropical lowlands of India, to Java’sequatorial highlands and the steppesof the Ukraine.

Potatoes feed the hungryThe potato should be a major component instrategies aimed at providing nutritious foodfor the poor and hungry. It is ideally suited toplaces where land is limited and labour isabundant, conditions that characterize muchof the developing world. The potato producesmore nutritious food more quickly, on lessland, and in harsher climates than any othermajor crop – up to 85 percent of the plant isedible human food, compared to around 50 percent in cereals.

4International Year ofthe Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure

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IYP conceptThe International Year of the Potato aimed atraising the profile of this globally importantfood crop and commodity, giving emphasis toits biological and nutritional attributes, andthus promoting its production, processing,consumption, marketing and trade.Celebration of IYP 2008 presented a uniqueopportunity to make a valid and effectivecontribution towards meeting the MillenniumDevelopment Goals:

6 Food security – improving access to safeand nutritious food.IYP focused global attention on the needto reach the vulnerable with solutionsthat reduce constraints, createopportunities, improve productivity andreduce risks in the farming systems onwhich they depend.Despite the great increase in global food

production over the past half-century, manyindividuals and communities – mainly inrural areas – do not have physical orfinancial access to food year round.Undernourishment places vulnerable peoplein a downward spiral of bad health thatfrequently ends in death. Furthermore,HIV/AIDS and social and political conflictshave disrupted access to traditional sources ofnutrition, thereby creating large groups of at-risk individuals. Many developing countriesface a “double burden” of malnutrition: thepersistence of undernutrition, along with arapid rise in overweight due to unhealthydiets associated with urbanization. The

BackgroundThe potato (Solanum tuberosum) originatedin the Andes of South America. It wasappropriate, therefore, that the initial impetusfor declaring 2008 as the International Yearof the Potato came from the Governmentof Peru.

At the biennial Conference ofthe Food and AgricultureOrganization of the UnitedNations (FAO) in November2005, the Permanent

Representative of Peru proposed – and theConference adopted – a resolution that soughtto focus world attention on the importance ofthe potato in providing food security andalleviating poverty. The resolution wastransmitted to the Secretary-General of theUnited Nations, with the aim of having the UN General Assembly declare the year 2008 as the International Year of the Potato (IYP).

The Sixtieth Session of the GeneralAssembly accepted the resolution in December2005, and invited FAO to facilitate theimplementation of IYP 2008. The resolutionnoted that the potato is a staple food in thediet of the world’s population, and affirmedthe role that the potato could play inachieving internationally agreed developmentobjectives, including the United NationsMillennium Development Goals.

5THEINTERNATIONAL

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Flag of Peru

Goal 8: Develop aglobal partnershipfor development

MillenniumDevelopmentGoals to whichIYP contributed

6 Sustainable intensification of potato-based farming systemsIYP focused global attention on solutionsfor sustainable intensification offarming systems that will stop or reversethe loss of natural resources. Most of the world’s farms are less than

2 ha in size. In sub-Saharan Africa and manyparts of Asia, farms are still shrinking andmay continue to do so for the next severalgenerations. As farm size shrinks, manyfarming families are switching from grainsand legumes to root and tuber crops to meetsubsistence and income goals. Farms withdeclining area are being managed more andmore intensively, leading to soil erosion andecological imbalances that encourage pestand disease outbreaks.

6 Sustainable use of biodiversityIYP focused global attention on therange of actions needed to protect,conserve and utilize potato diversity. To overcome the multiple challenges of

plant pests and diseases, low yields, naturalresources degradation, and drought andclimate change, potato-based agriculturalsystems need a continual supply of new,improved varieties. That implies access to thegenetic resources contained in the totality ofpotato biodiversity, which needs to beconserved, and at the same time, madeavailable to researchers and breeders in aresponsible and equitable way.

cultivation of nutrient-rich potatoes cancontribute to improved diets thus reducingmortality rates caused by malnutrition. Aswell as improving food security, such actionwill inevitably improve the health of targetpopulations, especially women and children.

6 Poverty alleviationIYP focused global attention on the needto alleviate poverty by increasingincomes and linking farmers tomarkets.Many farming families are caught in a

“poverty trap” in which limited livelihoodoptions conspire to keep them poor. Thoselivelihoods often need either slight or radicalreworking to provide consistent income thatenables the family to move – and stay – outof poverty. Local markets, once safe fromoutside competition, now face increasedpenetration from a wide range of suppliersdue to globalization and urbanization.Learning to innovate and engage withmarkets, and to become more competitive, arechallenges for small scale farming families.In order to compete in regional and globalmarkets, they need yield-improving andinput-saving technologies to help close thepersistent yield and cost gap.

6International Year ofthe Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure

Goal 1: Eradicateextreme poverty andhunger

Goal 4: Reduce childmortality

Goal 5: Improvematernal health

Goal 7: Ensureenvironmentalsustainability

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Participants at the launchof the International Yearof the Potato, at UNHeadquarters in New York.From left: J. Godfrey,Chairman of CIP; R. N. Mayanja, AssistantSecretary-General;S. Kerim, President of the62nd session of the GeneralAssembly; J. Diouf, Director-General of FAO;I. Benavides, Minister forAgriculture of Peruand L. Mérorès,Vice-President of theEconomic and Social Council.

representatives of the US “potatocommunity”, and 300 schoolchildren fromthe Washington DC area.

Following the official launch, a specialevent was held in the ECOSOC Chamber for

IYP partners, including governmentsand major internationalorganizations, public and privatesector organizations, NGOs and civilsociety.

The IYP exhibit washeld from 16 to 19October. It includedIYP informationmaterials, potato plantsprovided by CornellUniversity, plastic

replicas of tuber biodiversity fromCIP, information on nutritionalaspects of potato, and a video andphotographs on potato from Peru.

Launchingthe InternationalYearThe International Year of the Potato wasofficially launched at UnitedNations headquarters in NewYork on 18 October 2007. Theday’s celebrations included theofficial launching ceremony,held in the ECOSOC Chamber, aspecial supporting event for IYPpartners, and an exhibit onpotato and IYP for the generalpublic.

The official launchingceremony was held in conjunctionwith observation of World Food Day 2007,with the theme “Right to food”.

It was attended by high-ranking UnitedNations officials, representatives of countrymissions to the UN, members of the IYPInformal International Steering Committee,

Spud we likeThe United Nations hopes that

greater awareness of the

merits of potatoes will

contribute to the achievement

of its Millennium Development

Goals. It is always the

international year of this or

month of that. But the potato’s

unusual history means it is

well worth celebrating...

The Economist

28 February 2008

Tremendous

opportunity The declaration by the United

Nations of 2008 as the

International Year of the Potato

will provide multiple

opportunities to publicize the

role of the potato as a staple

food for everyone.

El Comercio

18 October 2007

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Key PartnersAs the lead organization for IYP, FAO drew onits expertise in potato development, itsexperience in facilitating other InternationalYears (Rice 2004 and Mountains 2002), andits regional, liaison and representative officesacross the world to coordinate a globalawareness and action campaign. It alsosought to involve the entire “potatocommunity” in observation of theInternational Year.

International partners5 Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations5 Latin American and Caribbean Group(GRULAC)5 International Potato Center (CIP)5 Bioversity International5 International Food Policy ResearchInstitute (IFPRI)5 Global Forum for Agricultural Research(GFAR)5 The European Union (EU)5 International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD)

8International Year ofthe Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure Donors

Funding for IYP implementation was providedby:

Governments5 Ireland5 Italy5 Spain5 Switzerland5 Friuli Venezia Giulia, ItalyPrivate sector5 HZPC Holland5 McCain Foods Ltd5 Nikon Europe5 J. R. Simplot5 United States Potato Board

Informal International SteeringCommitteeImplementation of IYP 2008 was guidedby an Informal International SteeringCommittee, made up of representativesof government, potato producers and thepotato industry. For a full list of committeemembers, see page 136.

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IYP information products

NationalParticipationA key objective of the International Year wasthe creation of national committees thatwould promote IYP observance and, indeveloping countries, lay the foundations forlong-term potato development programmes.Some examples:

Belgium. IYP celebrations were organizedby a task force with representatives of inputsuppliers, potato growers’ associations, theprocessing industry, distributors andconsumer groups, and delegates fromregional governments.

Bolivia. The Ministry of RuralDevelopment, Agriculture and Environmentformed a national committee withrepresentatives of FAO, governmentdepartments, the national seed potatoenterprise, the potato producers’ association,research and training institutes and NGOs.

China. IYP observation wascoordinated by a committee representing FAO,the Ministry of Agriculture, the ChinaAcademy of Agricultural Sciences, the ChineseCuisine Association, the Peruvian embassyand CIP’s liaison office in Beijing.

Ireland. The committee includedrepresentatives of the Department ofAgriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Irish

The IYP logo was createdby Italian graphic designerGiancarlo de Pol. During 2008,the IYP Secretariat approvedmore than 650 applicationsfor use of the logo

www.potato2008.orgRated the most popularUnited Nationseducational website

Poster.More than 5 000 copies were

distributed worldwide

Factsheets. FAOspecialists compiled10 technical factsheetson key issues

Brochure. Some6 000 copies werepublished in sixlanguages

Video. Publishedin 8 languages –Arabic, Chinese, Dutch,English, French, Italian,Russian and Spanish

Pakistan. Coordinated by the NationalPotato Programme, the IYP committeeconsisted of representatives from theAgricultural Research Council, potato seedcompanies, processing industries, NGOs,farmer associations and provincial researchorganizations.

South Africa. The IYP steering committeeincluded delegates from Potatoes South Africa(the national growers and processors’association), the National Department ofAgriculture, FAO, the United NationsInformation Centre, the Embassy of Peru andthe University of Pretoria.

Syrian Arab Republic. The nationalcommittee represented the GeneralCommission for Scientific AgriculturalResearch, the General Organization forSeeds Multiplication, and directoratesof plant production and agriculturalextension.

Food Agency, the Irish Potato Federation andIrish Farmers’ Association, the Agricultureand Food Development Authority, theAgri-Awareness Trust and the Food SafetyAuthority.

Nepal. The Ministry of Agricultureand Cooperatives created a committeerepresenting the Ministries of health,population and water resources, departmentsof agriculture and food technology, theNational Agriculture Research Council andPotato Development Programme.

Peru. For IYP, the Peruvian Governmentestablished a National MultisectoralCommission with an executive teamcomposed of delegates from the Ministryof Agriculture, the Ministry of ForeignTrade and Tourism, the Ministry of ForeignAffairs, FAO and CIP.

10International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure

The potato

Introducing our special guest,Solanum tuberosum, the “humble tuber”

that spread from its Andean birthplace across six continents, staving off hunger,

fuelling economic developmentand changing the course of world history


CIP

flowers

fruit

compound leaf

lateral stem

main stems

stolons

tuber

mother tuber

roots

The tuberAs the potato plant grows, its compoundleaves manufacture starch that is transferredto the ends of its underground stems (orstolons). The stems thicken to form a few oras many as 20 tubers close to the soil surface.The number of tubers that actually reachmaturity depends on available moisture andsoil nutrients. Tubers may vary in shape andsize, and normally weigh up to 300 g each.

At the end of the growing season, theplant’s leaves and stems die down to the soillevel and its new tubers detach from theirstolons. The tubers then serve as a nutrientstore that allows the plant to survive the cold,and later regrow and reproduce. Each tuberhas from two to as many as 10 buds (or“eyes”), arranged in a spiral pattern aroundits surface. The buds generate shoots whichgrow into new plants when conditions becomefavourable once more.

A raw potato tuber is rich in micro-nutrients – the vitamins and minerals that

The plantThe potato (Solanum tuberosum) is aherbaceous annual that grows up to 100 cm tall and produces a tuber – also calledpotato – so rich in starch that it ranks as theworld’s fourth most important food crop, aftermaize, wheat and rice. The potato belongs tothe Solanaceae – or “nightshade”– family offlowering plants, and shares the genusSolanum with at least 1000 other species,including tomato and eggplant. Recentresearch indicates that S. tuberosum isdivided into two, only slightly different,cultivar groups: Andigenum, which is adaptedto short day conditions and is mainly grownin the Andes, and Chilotanum, the potato nowcultivated around the world. Also known asthe “European” potato, the Chilotanum groupis believed to have developed from Andeancultivars introduced first into Chile and fromthere, during the 19th century, into Europe.

Chemical composition of the potato tuber

water 72-75% starch 16-20%

protein 2-2.5%

fibre 1-1.8%

fatty acids 0.15%

14International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure are essential to health. A medium-size potato

contains high levels of potassium and nearlyhalf the daily adult requirement of vitamin C.It is also a good source of B vitamins,and minerals such as phosphorusand magnesium.

Andean heritageThe story of the potato begins about 8 000 years ago near Lake Titicaca, which sitsat 3 800 m above sea level in the Andesmountain range of South America, on theborder between Bolivia and Peru. There,research indicates, communities of huntersand gatherers who had first entered the SouthAmerican continent at least 7 000 yearsbefore, began domesticating wild potatoplants that grew around the lake inabundance.

Some 200 species of wild potatoes arefound in the Americas. But it was in theCentral Andes that farmers succeeded inselecting and improving the first of what wasto become, over the following millennia, astaggering range of tuber crops. In fact, whatwe know as “the potato” (Solanum speciestuberosum) contains just a fragment of thegenetic diversity found in the four recognizedpotato species and 5 000 potato varieties stillgrown in the Andes.

Although Andean farmers cultivated manyfood crops – including tomatoes, beans andmaize – their potato varieties provedparticularly suited to the quechua or “valley”zone, which extends at altitudes of from 3 100to 3 500 m along the slopes of the CentralAndes (among Andean peoples, the quechuawas known as the zone of “civilization”). Butfarmers also developed a frost-resistant potatospecies that survives on the alpine tundra ofthe puna zone at 4 300 m.

The food security provided by maize andpotato – consolidated by the development of

Micronutrients(one raw potato, including skin, 213 g)Minerals

potassium 897 mgphosphorus 121 mgmagnesium 49 mgiron 1.66 mg

Vitaminsvitamin C 42 mgniacin 2.2 mgvitamin B6 0.62 mgthiamine 0.17 mg

Source: United States National Nutrient Database

irrigation and terracing – allowed for theemergence around 500 AD of the Huaricivilization in the highland Ayacucho basin.Around the same time, the city state ofTiahuanacu rose near Lake Titicaca, thankslargely to its sophisticated “raised field”technology – elevated soil beds lined withwater canals – which produced potato yieldsestimated at 10 tonnes perhectare . At its height, around800 AD, Tiahuanacu andneighbouring valleys arebelieved to have sustained apopulation of 500 000 or more.

Meteoric rise. The collapse ofHuari and Tiahuanacu between1000 and 1200 led to a period ofturmoil that ended with themeteoric rise of the Incas in theCusco valley around 1400. Inless than 100 years, they createdthe largest state in pre-Columbian America, extendingfrom present-day Argentinato Colombia.

The Incas adopted andimproved the agriculturaladvances of previous highlandcultures, and gave special

15THE POTATO

The dawn of agricultureIncan myths relate that the Creator, Viracocha, causedthe sun, moon and stars to emerge from Lake Titicaca.He also created agriculture when he sent his two sonsto the human realm to study and classify the plants thatgrew there. They taught the people to sow cropsand how to use them so that they would never lack food.

Lake Titicaca,a centre of Andeancivilization

importance to maize production. But thepotato was fundamental to the food security oftheir empire: in the Incas’ vast network ofstate storehouses, potato – especially a freeze-dried potato product called chuño – was oneof the main food items, used to feed officials,soldiers and corvée labourers, and as anemergency stock after crop failures.

The Spanish invasion, in 1532, brought anend to the Incas – but not to the cultivation ofpotatoes. For, throughout Andean history, thepotato – in all its forms – was profoundly a“people’s food”, playing a central role theAndean vision of the world (time, forexample, was measured by how long it took tocook a pot of potatoes).

Farmers in some parts ofthe high Andes still measureland in topo, the area a familyneeds to grow their potatosupply – a topo is larger athigher altitudes, where plotsneed to lie fallow for longer.They classify potatoes not onlyby species and variety, but bythe ecological niche where thetubers grow best, and it is notunusual to find four speciescultivated on a single, smallplot of land.

Planting tubers remainsthe most important activityof the farming year near LakeTiticaca, where the potatois known as Mama Jatha,or mother of growth. Thepotato remains the seedof Andean society.

P. W

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“The potato eaters” (1885) by Vincent Van Gogh

potato was poisonous. At the same time,however, Europe’s “Age of Discovery” hadbegun, and among the first to appreciatepotatoes as food were sailors who took tubersto consume on ocean voyages. That is how thepotato reached India, China and Japan earlyin the 17th century.

The potato also received an unusuallywarm welcome in Ireland, where it provedsuited to the cool air and moist soils. Irishimmigrants took the tuber – and the name,“Irish potato” – to North America in theearly 1700s.

Long summer days. The widespread adoptionof the potato as a food crop in the northernhemisphere was delayed not only byentrenched eating habits, but by the challengeof adapting a plant grown for millennia in theAndes to the temperate climate of the north.Only a drop of the rich potato gene pool hadleft South America, and it took 150 yearsbefore varieties suited to long summer daysbegan to appear.

Those varieties arrived at a crucial time. Inthe 1770s, much of continental Europe wasdevastated by famines, and the potato’s valueas a food security crop was suddenlyrecognized. Frederick the Great of Prussiaordered his subjects to grow potatoes as

DiffusionThe diffusion of the potato from the Andes tothe rest of the globe reads like an adventurestory, but it began with a tragedy. The Spanishconquest of Peru between 1532 and 1572destroyed the Inca civilization and caused thedeaths – from war, disease and despair – of atleast half the population.

The conquistadores came in search ofgold, but the real treasure they took back toEurope was Solanum tuberosum. The firstevidence of potato growing in Europe datesfrom 1565, on Spain’s Canary Islands. By1573, the potato was known to be cultivatedon the Spanish mainland. Soon after, tuberswere being sent around Europe as exotic gifts– from the Spanish court to the Pope inRome; from Rome to the papal ambassador inMons; and from there to a botanist in Vienna.Potatoes were grown in London in 1597and reached France and the Netherlandssoon after.

But once the plant had been added tobotanical gardens and herbalists’encyclopaedias, interest waned. Europeanaristocracy admired its flowers, but the tuberswere considered fit only for pigs and thedestitute. Superstitious peasants believed the


17THE POTATO

“Potato famine”. But the potato’s successproved a double-edged sword. For the tubersthat were being cloned and cultivated acrossNorth America and Europe belonged to a few,genetically similar varieties. That meantthey were highly vulnerable: a pest or diseasethat struck one plant could spread quicklyto the rest.

The first sign of impending disaster camein 1844-1845, when a mould disease, lateblight, ravaged potato fields acrosscontinental Europe, from Belgium to Russia.But the worst came to Ireland, where potatosupplied 80 percent of calorie intake. Between1845 and 1848, late blight destroyed threepotato crops, leading to famines that causedthe deaths of one million people.

The Irish catastrophe led to concertedefforts to develop more productive anddisease-resistant varieties. Breeders in Europeand North America, drawing on new potatogermplasm from Chile, produced many of themodern varieties that laid the foundation formassive potato production in both regions formost of the 20th century.

Meanwhile, European colonialism andemigration were taking the potato to allcorners of the globe. Colonial governors,missionaries and settlers introduced potatogrowing to the floodplains of Bengal andEgypt’s Nile delta, the Atlas Mountains ofMorocco, and the Jos plateau in Nigeria.Emigrant farmers took the potato to Australiaand even to South America, establishing thepotato in Argentina and Brazil.

In the Asian heartland, the tuber movedalong more ancient routes, finding its wayfrom the Caucasus to Turkey’s Anatolian

insurance against cereal crop failure, while theFrench scientist Parmentier succeeded inhaving the potato declared “edible” (aroundthe same time, on the other side of the Atlantic,the President of the United States, ThomasJefferson, served French fries to White Houseguests).

After initial hesitation, European farmers –even those in Russia, where the potato wascalled the “devil’s apple” – began growingpotatoes on a large scale. The potato becameEurope’s food reserve during the Napoleonicwars, and by 1815 it had become a staple cropacross northern Europe. By then, the IndustrialRevolution was transforming agrarian societyin the United Kingdom, displacing millions ofrural people into crowded cities. In the newurban environment, the potato became the firstmodern “convenience food” – energy-rich,nutritious, easy to grow on small plots, cheap topurchase, and ready to cook without expensiveprocessing.

Increased potato consumption during the19th century is credited with helping to reducethe scourge of diseases such as scurvy andmeasles, contributing to higher birth rates andthe population explosion in Europe, the UnitedStates and the British Empire.

Papa, patata, potato...While the Incas called it papa (as do modern-day Latin Americans), the Spaniards calledthe potato patata, apparently confusing itwith another New World crop, the sweetpotato (known as batata). In 1797, theEnglish herbalist Gerard referred to the sweetpotato as “common potatoes”, and for manyyears S. tuberosum was known as the “Virginiapotato” or “Irish potato” before finallydisplacing batata as the potato.

highlands of Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda.

The potato has an extraordinarily richpast, and a bright future. While production inEurope – the potato’s “second home” for fourcenturies – is declining, the potato has ampleroom for expansion in the developing world,where its consumption is less than a quarterthat of developed countries.

Today in mountainous Lesotho, manyfarmers are shifting from maize to potato,assisted by an FAO project for production ofvirus-free seed tubers. In China, agricultureexperts claim that a staggering 30 percentincrease in potato yields is within reach.

And in the Andes, where it all began, theGovernment of Peru created in July 2008 anational register of Peruvian native potatovarieties, to help conserve the country’s richpotato heritage. That genetic diversity, thebuilding blocks of new varieties adapted to theworld’s evolving needs, will help write futurechapters in the story of Solanum tuberosum.

plateau, from Russia to western China, andfrom China to the Korean Peninsula. In themountain valleys of Tajikistan, some potatotypes have been grown long enough to beconsidered “old local varieties”.

The 20th century saw the potato finallyemerge as a truly global food. The SovietUnion’s annual potato harvest reached 100 million tonnes. In the years following the Second World War, huge areas of arableland in Germany and Britain were dedicatedthe potato, and countries like Belarus andPoland produced – and still do – morepotatoes than cereals.

The potato came into its own as a snackfood. The invention in the 1920s of themechanical potato peeler helped make potatocrisps America’s top-selling snack. Arestaurant chain founded by the McDonaldbrothers in the United States in 1957 spentmillions of dollars to “perfect the French fry”.A Canadian firm, McCain, that began makingfrozen French fries in 1957, expanded to open57 production facilities on six continents andnow supplies one third of all French friedpotatoes produced internationally.

Exploding demand. From the 1960s,cultivation of the potato began to expand inthe developing world. In India and Chinaalone, total production rose from 16 milliontonnes in 1960 to almost 100 million in 2007.In Bangladesh, potato has become a valuablewinter cash crop, while potato farmers inSoutheast Asia have tapped into explodingdemand from food industries. In sub-SaharanAfrica, potato is a preferred food in manyurban areas, and an important crop in the


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19THE POTATO

However, it is also vulnerable to a number of pests and diseases. To prevent the build-upof pathogens in the soil, farmers avoidgrowing potatoes on the same land from yearto year. Instead, they grow potatoes inrotations of three or more years, alternatingwith other, dissimilar crops, such as maize,beans and alfalfa. Crops susceptible to thesame pathogens as the potato (e.g. tomato)are avoided, in order to break thedevelopment cycle of potato pests.

With good agricultural practices, includingirrigation when necessary, a hectare of potatoin the temperate climates of northern Europeand North America can yield more than 40 tonnes of fresh tubers within four months

of planting. In mostdeveloping countries, however,average yields are much lower– ranging from as little as 5 to 25 tonnes – owing to lackof high quality seed andimproved cultivars, lower ratesof fertilizer use and irrigation,and pest and disease problems.

CultivationPotato is grown in more than 100 countries,under temperate, subtropical and tropicalconditions. It is essentially a “cool weathercrop”, with temperature being the mainlimiting factor to production: tuber growth issharply inhibited in temperatures below 10°Cand above 30°C , while optimum yields areobtained where mean daily temperatures arein the 18 to 20°C range.

For that reason, potato is planted in earlyspring in temperate zones and late winter in warmer regions, and grown during thecoolest months of the year in hot tropicalclimates. In some sub-tropical highlands,mild temperatures and high solar radiationallow farmers to grow potatoes throughout the year, and to harvest tubers within 90 daysof planting (in temperate climates, such as in northern Europe, that can take up to 150 days).

The potato is a very accommodating andadaptable plant, and will produce well evenwithout ideal soil and growing conditions.

Potato fieldsin central Java,Indonesia

Selecting seed potatoSeed potato is usually the mostexpensive input to potatocultivation, accountingfor from 30 to50 percent ofproduction costs.In areas ofdeveloping countries where noformal seed supply system exists,farmers have devised their ownad hoc method for selecting seedtubers: they sell the largestpotatoes for cash, eat the medium-sized ones at home, and keep thesmallest as future plantingmaterial.

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to farmers’ own seed, but expected profitsmust offset the higher cost.

The planting density of a row of potatoesdepends on the size of the tubers chosen, whilethe inter-row spacing must allow for ridgingof the crop (see below). Usually, about twotonnes of seed potatoes are sown per hectare. For rainfed production in dryareas, planting on flat soil gives higher yields (thanks to better soil waterconservation), while irrigated crops aremainly grown on ridges.

Crop careDuring the development of the potato canopy,which takes about four weeks, weeds must becontrolled in order to give the crop a“competitive advantage”. If the weeds arelarge, they must be removed before ridgingoperations begin. Ridging (or “earthing up”)consists of mounding the soil from betweenthe rows around the main stem of the potatoplant. Ridging keeps the plants upright andthe soil loose, prevents insect pests such as thetuber moth from reaching the tubers, andhelps prevent the growth of weeds.

After earthing up, weeds between the

Soil and land preparationThe potato can be grown on almost any typeof soil, except saline and alkaline. Naturallyloose soils, which offer the least resistance toenlargement of the tubers, are preferred, andloamy and sandy loam soils that are rich inorganic matter, with good drainage andaeration, are the most suitable. Soil with a pHrange of 5.2 – 6.4 is considered ideal.

Growing potatoes involves extensiveground preparation. The soil needs to beharrowed until completely free of weed roots.In most cases, three ploughings, along withfrequent harrowing and rolling, are neededbefore the soil reaches a suitable condition:soft, well-drained and well-aerated.

PlantingThe potato crop is usually grown not fromseed but from “seed potatoes” – small tubersor pieces of tuber sown to a depth of 5 to 10 cm. Purity of the cultivars and healthy seed tubers are essential for a successful crop. Tuber seed should be disease-free, well-sprouted and from 30 to 40 g in weight.Use of good quality commercial seed canincrease yields by 30 to 50 percent, compared


1. Planted seed tuber 2. Vegetative growth 3. Tuber initiation 4. Tuber bulking

Stages in crop development

Potato varietiesAlthough the potato cultivated worldwide belongs to just one botanical species, Solanum tuberosum, the tubers come in thousands of varieties with great differencesin size, shape, colour, texture, cooking characteristics and taste.Here is a small sample of potato diversity:

1. AtahualpaBred in Peru, a highyielding variety goodfor both baking andfrying

2. NicolaWidely grown Dutchvariety, one of the bestfor boiling, also good insalads

3. Russet BurbankThe classic Americanpotato, excellent forbaking and French fries

4. Lapin puikulaGrown in Finland forcenturies, in fieldsbathed in the light ofthe midnight sun

5. Yukon GoldA Canadian potato withbuttery yellow fleshsuitable for frying,boiling, mashing

growing plants and at the top of the ridge areremoved mechanically or by using herbicides.Ridging should be done two or three times atan interval of 15 to 20 days. The first shouldbe done when the plants are about 15-25 cmhigh; the second is often done to cover thegrowing tubers.

Manuring and fertilizationThe use of chemical fertilizer depends on thelevel of available soil nutrients – volcanicsoils, for example, are typically deficient inphosphorus – and in irrigated commercialproduction, fertilizer requirements arerelatively high. However, the potato canbenefit from application of organic manure at

21THE POTATO

6. TubiraCIP-bred variety grownin West Africa. Whiteflesh, pink skin

7. VitelotteA gourmet Frenchvariety prized for itsdeep blue skin andviolet flesh

8. Royal JerseyFrom the Isle of Jersey:the only Britishvegetable with an EUdesignation-of-origin

9. KipflerHails from Germany.Elongated with creamflesh, popular in salads

10. Papa coloradaBrought to the CanaryIslands by passingSpanish ships in 1567

11. Maris BardBred in the UnitedKingdom, a whitevariety with a soft waxytexture good for boiling

12. DésiréeRed-skinned, withyellow flesh and adistinctive flavour

13. SpuntaAnother popularcommercial tuber, goodfor boiling and roasting

14. MondialA Dutch potato withsmooth good looks.Boils and mashes well

15. UnknownOne of more than 5 000native varieties stillgrown in the Andes

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22International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure the start of a new rotation: it provides a good

nutrient balance and protects the structure ofthe soil. Crop fertilization requirements needto be correctly estimated according to theexpected yield, the potential of the variety andthe intended use of the harvested crop.

Water supplyThe soil moisture content must be maintainedat a relatively high level. For best yields, a 120to 150 day crop requires from 500 to 700 mmof water. In general, water deficits in themiddle to late part of the growing period tendto reduce yield more than those in the earlypart. Where supply is limited, water should bedirected towards maximizing yield per hectarerather than being applied over a larger area.

Because the potato has a shallow rootsystem, yield response to frequent irrigation is considerable, and very high yields areobtained with mechanized sprinkler systemsthat replenish evapotranspiration losses everyone or two days. Under irrigation in temperateand subtropical climates, a crop of about 120 days can produce yields of 25 to 35 tonnes/ha , falling to 15 to 25 tonnes/hain tropical areas.

Pests and diseasesA few basic precautions against diseases –crop rotation, using tolerant varieties andhealthy, certified seed tubers – can help avoidgreat losses. There is no chemical control forbacterial and viral diseases but they can becontrolled by regular monitoring (and whennecessary, spraying) of their aphid vectors.The severity of fungal diseases such as lateblight depends, after the first infection, mainlyon the weather – persistence of favourableconditions, without chemical spraying, canquickly spread the disease.

Insect pests can wreak havoc in a potatopatch. Recommended control measuresinclude regular monitoring and steps toprotect the pests’ natural enemies. Evendamage caused by the Colorado potato beetle,a major pest, can be reduced by destroyingbeetles, eggs and larvae that appear early inthe season, while sanitation, crop rotationsand use of resistant potato varieties helpprevent the spread of nematodes.

HarvestingYellowing of the potato plant’s leaves and easyseparation of the tubers from their stolonsindicate that the crop has reached maturity. If the potatoes are to be stored rather thanconsumed immediately, they are left in the soil to allow their skins to thicken – thickskins prevent storage diseases and shrinkagedue to water loss. However, leaving tubers for too long in the ground increases theirexposure to a fungal incrustation called black scurf.

To facilitate harvesting, the potato vinesshould be removed two weeks before the

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potatoes are dug up. Depending on the scaleof production, potatoes are harvested using aspading fork, a plough or commercial potatoharvesters that unearth the plant and shakeor blow the soil from the tubers. Duringharvesting, it is important to avoid bruising orother injury, which provide entry points forstorage diseases.

StorageSince the newly harvested tubers are living tissue – and therefore subject todeterioration – proper storage is essential,both to prevent post-harvest losses of potatoesdestined for fresh consumption or processing,and to guarantee an adequate supply of seedtubers for the next cropping season.

For ware and processing potatoes, storageaims at preventing “greening” (the build upof chlorophyll beneath the peel, which isassociated with solanine, a potentially toxicalkaloid) and losses in weight and quality.The tubers should be kept at a temperature of6 to 8°C degrees, in a dark, well-ventilatedenvironment with high relative humidity (85to 90 percent). Seed tubers are stored, instead,under diffused light in order to maintain theirgermination capacity and encouragedevelopment of vigorous sprouts. In regions,such as northern Europe, with only onecropping season and where storage of tubersfrom one season to the next is difficultwithout the use of costly refrigeration, off-season planting may offer a solution.

Uses of potatoOnce harvested, potatoes are used for a varietyof purposes, and not only as a vegetable forcooking at home. In fact, it is likely that lessthan 50 percent of potatoes grown worldwideare consumed fresh. The rest are processedinto potato food products and foodingredients, fed to cattle, pigs and chickens,processed into starch for industry, and re-usedas seed tubers for growing the next season’spotato crop.

Food uses: fresh, “frozen”,dehydratedFAO estimates that just over two-thirdsof the 320 million tonnes of potatoesproduced in 2005 were consumed by peopleas food, in one form or another. Home-grownor purchased in markets, fresh potatoesare baked, boiled or fried and usedin an astonishing range of recipes:mashed potatoes, potato pancakes, potatodumplings, twice-baked potatoes, potato soup,potato salad and potatoes au gratin,to name a few.

However, the global consumption of potatoas food is shifting from fresh potatoes toadded-value, processed food products.

23THE POTATO

Potatoes awaiting salein La Plata, Argentina

24International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure One of the main items in that category goes

by the unappetizing name of frozen potatoes,but includes most of the French fries (“chips”in the United Kingdom) served in restaurantsand fast food chains worldwide. Theproduction process is fairly simple: peeledpotatoes are shot through cutting blades,parboiled, air dried, par fried, frozen andpackaged. The world’s appetite for factory-made French fries is estimated at more than11 million tonnes a year.

Another processed product, the potato crisp(“chips” in the United States), is the long-standing king of snack foods in manydeveloped countries. Made from thin slices ofdeep-fried or baked potato, they come in avariety of flavours – from simple salted to“gourmet” varieties tasting of roast beef andThai chili. Some crisps are produced using adough made from dehydrated potato flakes.

Dehydrated potato flakes and granulesare made by drying a mash of cooked potatoesto a moisture level of 5 to 8 percent. Flakes areused in retail mashed potato products, asingredients in snacks, and even as food aid: as part of its international food assistance, the United States has distributed potato flakesto more than 600 000 people. Anotherdehydrated product, potato flour, is groundfrom cooked, whole potatoes and retains adistinct potato taste. Gluten-free and rich instarch, potato flour is used by the foodindustry to bind meat mixtures and thickengravies and soups.

Modern starch processing can retrieve asmuch as 96 per cent of the starch found inraw potatoes. A fine, tasteless powder with“excellent mouth-feel”, potato starch provides

higher viscosity than wheat and maizestarches, and delivers a more tasty product. Itis used as a thickener for sauces and stews,and as a binding agent in cake mixes, dough,biscuits and ice-cream.

Finally, in eastern Europe andScandinavia, crushed potatoes are heated toconvert their starch to fermentable sugars thatare used in the distillation of alcoholicbeverages such as vodka and akvavit.

Non-food uses: Glue, animal feedand fuel-grade ethanolPotato starch is also widely used by the

pharmaceutical, textile,wood and paper industriesas an adhesive, binder,texture agent and filler, andby oil drilling firms to washboreholes. Potato starch is a100% biodegradablesubstitute for polystyrene

and other plastics and used, for example, indisposable plates, dishes and knives.

Potato peel and other “zero value” wastesfrom potato processing are rich in starch thatcan be liquefied and fermented to producefuel-grade ethanol. A study in Canada’spotato-growing province of New Brunswickestimated that 440 000 tonnes of processingwaste could produce 4 to 5 million litres ofethanol.

One of the first widespread uses of thepotato in Europe was as farm animal feed. Inthe Russian Federation and other EastEuropean countries, as much as half of thepotato harvest is still used for that purpose.Cattle can be fed up to 20 kg of raw potatoes

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a day, while pigs fatten quickly on a daily dietof 6 kg of boiled potatoes. Chopped up andadded to silage, the tubers cook in the heat offermentation.

Seed potatoes: renewing the cycle...Unlike other major field crops, potatoes are

reproducedvegetatively, fromother potatoes.Therefore, a part ofeach year’s crop – ranging from 5 to

15 percent, depending on the quality of theharvested tubers – is set aside for re-use in thenext planting season. Most farmers indeveloping countries select and store theirown seed tubers. In developed countries,farmers are more likely to purchase disease-free “certified seed” from dedicated suppliers.More than 13 percent of France’s potatogrowing area is used to produce seed potatoes,and the Netherlands exports some 700 000tonnes of certified seed a year.

Potatoesin the kitchen

What has made the “humble tuber” theworld’s No. 4 food crop is not only itsnutritional value but its amazing versatility inthe kitchen. Potatoes are the world’s mostpopular vegetable, and have been welcomedinto the cuisines of countries around theglobe. Potatoes are used in curries in Indiaand in pasta in Italy, stewed with bananas inCosta Rica, baked with rice in Iran, stuffedwith liver in Belarus, stir-fried with greenbeans in Ethiopia, and simmered withsmoked haddock in winter soups in Finland.

The secret of the potato’s success is its greatdiversity: in Peru, a potato salad may includethree or four different types. While the choiceof tubers is more limited elsewhere, modernvarieties of Solanum tuberosum offer a widerange of cooking characteristics suitable forhundreds of different dishes. Some give soupsa creamy density, providing a delicate tastethat highlights other ingredients. Otherpotatoes are great when baked, served as asimple snack or with a filling as a completemeal. Roast potatoes – crisp and goldenoutside and fluffy inside – are the perfect

25THE POTATO

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Traditional dishof the CanaryIslands

accompaniment to roast meat. Smooth,creamy, mashed potato is said to be the“ultimate comfort food”, while “new”potatoes, steamed or boiled, are considered aspecial delicacy.

Most potato recipes are easy to prepare. Butchoosing the right potato variety is essentialfor a successful potato dish – in the kitchen,potatoes are classified according to theirstarch content, which determines how theyreact to cooking. Basically, the more starchthey contain, the more easily the tuber’sstarch cells burst when heated.

Choosing the “right potato”High-starch potatoes, also called “floury”potatoes, generally have coarse, corky skin

and a dry texture (due to lowerlevels of moisture). Boiled, theytend to fall apart. But they areunbeatable for baking, makingFrench fries, and yielding light,

fluffy mashed potato. Common high-starchvarieties are Russets, Bintje, King Edwardand Maris Piper.

Medium-starch (or “allpurpose”) potatoes includelong white, round white andyellow potatoes, such as YukonGold, German Butterball andNicola, as well as purple-

fleshed tubers. They are more moist thanbaking potatoes, but – some say – have ablander taste. Ideal for steaming, they go wellin stews and in baked, roasted, pan-fried and au gratin dishes.

Low-starch potatoes are called “waxy”for their glossy skins. These moist tubers keep

their shape during cooking,making them the best choicefor boiling, sautés, stews andsalads (in France, waxyvarieties are preferred for

making thick mashed potato). Use fingerlingand round reds, or “new” (immature, of anyvariety) potatoes.

Factsheets. To deepen understandingof the potato’s role in world agriculture,

the economy and global food security,FAO specialists compiled a series

of factsheets on key issuesin potato development.


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Potato world

The potato is grown in more than 100 countriesfrom the Arctic Circle to the southern extremity

of South America, and at all latitudes in between.Profiles of the world’s top producers

reveal the potato’s extraordinarily rich past– and point to a bright future

1991 1993 1995 1997 1999

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177.47 174.63165.93

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World potato production

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312.85 313.08319.98 325.30

The world potato sector isundergoing major changes.Until the early 1990s, mostpotatoes were grown andconsumed in Europe, NorthAmerica and countries of theformer Soviet Union. Since then,there has been a dramaticincrease in potato production

and demand in Asia, Africa andLatin America, where output rosefrom less than 30 million tonnesin the early 1960s to more than165 million tonnes in 2007. FAOdata show that in 2005, for thefirst time, the developing world’spotato production exceeded thatof the developed world. China is

now the world’s biggest potatoproducer, and almost a thirdof all potatoes is harvested inChina and India.

Top potato producers, 2007tonnes

1 China 72 040 0002 Russian Federation 36 784 2003 India 26 280 0004 United States of America 20 373 2675 Ukraine 19 102 0006 Poland 11 791 0727 Germany 11 643 7698 Belarus 8 743 9769 Netherlands 7 200 00010 France 6 271 000Source: FAOSTAT

World

Developed world

Developing world

49POTATOWORLD

Potato production, by region, 2007harvested area quantity yield

(hectares) (tonnes) (tonnes/ha)Africa 1 541 498 16 706 573 10.8Asia/Oceania 8 732 961 137 343 664 15.7Europe 7 473 628 130 223 960 17.4Latin America 963 766 15 682 943 16.3North America 615 878 25 345 305 41.2WORLD 19 327 731 325 302 445 16.8Source: FAOSTAT

Potato consumption, by region, 2005total food (tonnes) kg per capita

Africa 12 571 000 13.9Asia/Oceania 94 038 000 23.9Europe 64 902 000 87.8Latin America 11 639 000 20.7North America 19 824 000 60.0WORLD 202 974 000 31.3Source: FAOSTAT

Asia and Europe are the world’s majorpotato producing regions, accounting formore than 80 percent of world productionin 2007. While harvests in Africa and LatinAmerica were far smaller, production wasat or near record levels. North America wasthe clear leader in yields, at more than 40tonnes per hectare.

Asia consumes almost half of the world’spotato supply, but its huge populationmeans that consumption per person was amodest 24 kg in 2005. The heartiest potatoeaters are Europeans. Per capitaconsumption is lowest, but increasing, inAfrica and Latin America.

Potato productionand consumption, by region

NORTH AMERICA

LATIN AMERICA


Top potato consumers, 2005quantity (tonnes) kg per capita

1 China 47 594 193 1 Belarus 1812 Russian Federation 18 828 000 2 Kyrgyzstan 1433 India 17 380 730 3 Ukraine 1364 United States of America 17 105 000 4 Russian Federation 1315 Ukraine 6 380 850 5 Poland 1316 United Kingdom 6 169 000 6 Rwanda 1257 Germany 5 572 000 7 Lithuania 1168 Poland 5 000 000 8 Latvia 1149 Bangladesh 4 041 463 9 Kazakhstan 10310 Islamic Republic of Iran 3 991 142 10 United Kingdom 102Source: FAOSTAT

AFRICA

EUROPE

ASIA/OCEANIAProduction, 2007

Consumption per capita,2005

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country area harvested quantity yield(hectares) (tonnes) (tonnes/ha)

Algeria 90 000 1 900 000 21.1Angola 120 000 615 000 5.1Benin 10 30 3.0Burkina Faso 850 1 700 2.0Burundi 10 000 26 693 2.7Cameroon 45 000 142 000 3.2Cape Verde 230 3 800 16.5Central African Republic 390 1 000 2.6Chad 5 200 28 000 5.4Comoros 35 500 14.3Congo 500 4 300 8.6Democratic Republicof the Congo 20 000 92 000 4.6Egypt 105 000 2 600 000 24.8Eritrea 2 500 16 000 6.4Ethiopia 73 095 525 657 7.2Kenya 120 000 800 000 6.7Lesotho 5 600 96 000 17.1Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 10 000 196 000 19.6Madagascar 38 000 225 000 5.9Malawi 185 000 2 200 402 11.9Mali 4 100 90 000 22.0Mauritania 430 2 200 5.1Mauritius 550 13 000 23.6Morocco 60 000 1 450 000 24.2Mozambique 6 200 80 000 12.9Niger 420 4 200 10.0Nigeria 270 000 843 000 3.1Réunion 230 5 300 23.0Rwanda 133 000 1 200 000 9.0Senegal 600 12 000 20.0South Africa 58 000 1 972 391 34.0Sudan 15 708 263 900 16.8Swaziland 3 000 6 000 2.0Tunisia 24 550 350 000 14.3Uganda 93 000 650 000 7.0United Republic of Tanzania 37 000 240 000 6.5Zambia 1 050 14 500 13.8Zimbabwe 2 250 36 000 16.0Africa 1 541 498 16 706 573 10.8Source: FAOSTAT

1 Egypt 2 Malawi3 South Africa4 Algeria 5 Morocco 6 Rwanda

7 Nigeria 8 Kenya 9 Uganda10 Angola 11 Ethiopia

Africa: Potato production, 2007

Top producers, 2007

AfricaPotatoes arrived late in Africa, aroundthe turn of the 20th century. In recentdecades, production has been in continualexpansion, rising from 2 million tonnesin 1960 to a record 16.7 million tonnesin 2007. Potatoes are grown undera wide range of conditions – fromirrigated commercial farms in Egyptand South Africa to intensively cultivatedtropical highland zones of Easternand Central Africa, where it is mainlya small farmer’s crop.

1. EgyptThe potato was introduced toEgypt during the 1800s, andlarge scale cultivation began

during the First World War, when Britishcolonial officials encouraged its production tofeed their troops. After the war, however,expansion of potato growing was hampered bythe poor quality of imported seed and byfarmers’ inexperience with the crop.

All that has changed: since 1961, Egypt’sirrigated potato production – concentrated in the Nile River delta in the north – hasexpanded at a rate of more than 5 percent a year. Between 1990 and 2007, annualoutput rose from 1.6 million tonnes to some2.6 million tonnes, making Egypt Africa’s No. 1 potato producer.

Egypt also ranks among the world’s top

potato exporters – in 2004, exports totalledmore than 380 000 tonnes of fresh potatoesand 18 000 tonnes of frozen potato products,destined mainly for markets in Europe.

2. MalawiPotatoes came to East Africa in the 19th century, brought by missionaries and European

colonialists. But the crop did not becomeimportant to Malawians until the 1960s, when production reached around 60 000tonnes a year.

Now Malawi is sub-Saharan Africa’sbiggest potato producer, with a 2007 harvestof 2.2 million tonnes. The potato is grownmainly in highland areas in the country’ssouthern and central regions, the mostsuitable areas being at altitudes of between 1 000 and 2 000 m and with more than750 mm of annual rainfall. In parts of the

53POTATOWORLD

At a potato sorting factoryin the Nile Delta, Egypt

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increasingly under irrigation, with yieldsaveraging around 34 tonnes per hectare.

South Africa boasts a sophisticated seedpotato industry and – thanks largely to thecountry’s rapid rate of urbanization – a vibrant potato processing sector, whichutilizes some 250 000 tonnes of potatoes peryear, mainly for frozen French fries and crisps.Annual potato consumption is around 30 kgper person.

4. AlgeriaAfter the introduction ofSolanum tuberosum to Algeriain the mid-1800s, potatoes were

grown mainly for export to French markets.By the time of national independence fromFrance, in 1962, farmers were harvesting onaverage 250 000 tonnes a year, with about onethird marked for export.

Since then, the potato has become anincreasingly important crop for domesticconsumption, with production in 2006reaching a record 2.18 million tonnes. Potato


southern region, farmers can grow two cropseach year. Potatoes are often planted withmaize and beans during the main October-March season.

Only a tiny proportion of Malawi’s potatoesis exported. Annual consumption has morethan tripled over the past 15 years to a high 88 kg per capita.

3. South AfricaDutch seafarers heading forEast Asia probably brought thepotato to South Africa in the

1600s (it is thought sailors encouraged potatogrowing at ports of call so they could re-supply with fresh tubers during oceanvoyages).

South Africa’s potato output has grownstrongly over the past 15 years, from 1.2 million tonnes in 1990 to a record 1.97 million tonnes in 2007. In the sameperiod, the potato farming area actuallydeclined, from 63 000 ha to 58 000 ha. Mostpotatoes are grown on relatively large farms,

Potato marketin Kasungu, Malawi

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elevations of more than 3 000 m. Moroccansconsume an average of 42 kg per capita ofpotatoes a year.

6. RwandaThe potato arrived withGerman soldiers and Belgianmissionaries in Rwanda in the

early 20th century. Today, ibirayi – derivedfrom uburayi (“that which comes fromEurope”) – is the country’s second mostimportant crop after plantains and, in thesub-Saharan region, Rwanda is the thirdlargest potato producer.

Since 1961, Rwanda’s potato output hasrisen from less than 100 000 tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes in 2005. The harvest in2007 was only slightly smaller. Potatoes growwell in several parts of the country – mainlyabove elevations of 1 800 m – and some areasgrow two crops a year. Most of the potatosector consists of small family farms thatintercrop potato with beans and maize, andyields average almost 10 tonnes per hectare.

The potato underpins Rwanda’s foodsecurity. Annual consumption is a very high125 kg per person, making potato thecountry’s second most important source ofcalorie intake after cassava.

is grown over an area of 90 000 ha, and canbe planted and harvested somewhere inAlgeria in virtually any month of the year.

The main fresh potato growing areas arealong the Mediterranean coast, where a mildclimate permits year-round production.Potatoes are also grown at elevations of 500 min hills and valleys between the coast and theAtlas Mountains, and in high plateau areas.Annual potato consumption in Algeria hasincreased from 35 kg in 1990 to around 57 kg in 2005.

5. MoroccoThe potato was probably well established in Moroccobefore the country became

a French protectorate in 1910. Over thefollowing century – and particularly sinceindependence in 1956 – production hasexpanded strongly, rising from about150 000 tonnes in 1961 to a record 1.56 million tonnes in 2006. In the sameperiod, yields grew from 10 tonnes perhectare to more than 26 tonnes.

By sheer weight, the potato is nowMorocco’s third biggest crop, after sugar beetsand wheat, and second only to tomatoesamong exported vegetables, with more than40 000 tonnes shipped to Europe in 2005.

Except for a brief period during the wintermonths, potatoes are grown year round.Production of fresh potatoes is concentratedalong the Atlantic Coast north and south ofCasablanca, where a modified Mediterraneanclimate provides very favourable growingconditions. Potatoes are also grown in high,rugged parts of the Atlas mountains, at

small scale farmers, many of them women,although some larger-scale growers specializein commercial production. Cultivation isconcentrated in highland areas of from 1 200to 3 000 m above sea level.

Nearly all of Kenya’s potatoes areconsumed locally, at an average rate of almost25 kg per capita a year. Kiazi is relished notonly by the rural people who grow them, butby higher-income urban dwellers as well.While in some African countries potato isconsidered a “poor person’s food”, in Kenya itis considered a high quality and prestigiousfood item.

9. UgandaPotato cultivation reachedUganda early in the 1900s,thanks probably to missionaries

from the Congo. By mid-century, the tuberswere widely grown in the country’s coolhighlands – in fact, the plant was so prolificin some areas that it was regarded as a weed.

In the 1960s, the Ugandan Department ofAgriculture launched a potato developmentprogramme that helped boost average yieldsto 10 tonnes per hectare. Potato output topped350 000 tonnes in the 1970s, but droppedsharply during the widespread civil strife ofthe following decade.

7. NigeriaIn the potato world, Africa’smost populous country, Nigeria,stands out: it is the fourth

biggest producer of potato in sub-SaharanAfrica, and has almost as much land underpotato as Germany. Potato output has grownsevenfold over the past decade, reaching840 000 tonnes in 2007.

The main potato growing area is the Josplateau, where altitudes ranging from 1 200to 1 400 m and summer temperatures thatrarely exceed 35°C make for a temperateclimate well suited to potato production.However, productivity is constrained by a lackof suitable varieties, and high land and labourcosts. In fact, Nigeria records one of theworld’s lowest average potato yields, littlemore than 3.1 tonnes per hectare.

Potato consumption is also very low,at around 3.2 kg per capita per year. However,Nigeria’s taste for potatoes, especially inrapidly growing urban areas, is increasing:since 2000, imports of raw and processedpotatoes have risen from less than 9 000tonnes to 40 000 tonnes a year.

8. KenyaIntroduced to East Africa byBritish farmers in the 1880s,the potato has grown in

importance – both as a staple food and as asource of farmer incomes – over the past 30 years. Measured by quantity harvested, itnow ranks as the country’s No. 2 food crop,after maize, with production in 2007 totallingaround 800 000 tonnes.

The potato in Kenya is grown mainly by


Potatoes arepopular in Nairobi

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11. EthiopiaA German immigrant iscredited with introducing thepotato to Ethiopia in 1858. Over

the following decades, farmers in Ethiopia’shighlands began cultivating the new tuber –known as denech – as an “insurance policy”against cereal crop failures.

Among African countries, Ethiopia haspossibly the greatest potential for potatoproduction: 70 percent of its arable land – mainly in highland areas above 1 500 m –is believed suitable for the potato. Since thehighlands are also home to almost 90 percentof Ethiopia’s population, the potato could playa key role in ensuring national food security.

At present, potatoes are still widelyregarded as a secondary crop, and annual percapita consumption is estimated at just 5 kg.However, potato growing is expandingsteadily: FAO estimates that production hasincreased from 280 000 tonnes in 1993 toaround 525 000 tonnes in 2007.

Since 1990, potato production hasrebounded, rising from 224 000 tonnes to arecord 650 000 tonnes in 2007. In the sameperiod, the area under potato tripled to anestimated 90 000 ha. Almost half of thenational harvest comes from the intenselyfarmed Kabale highlands, which lie at2 000 m above sea level, some 400 kmsouthwest of Kampala.

10. AngolaDuring the early 16th century,ships from Portugal took bothpotato and sweet potato to what

was to become Portuguese West Africa. Whilesweet potato was widely adopted by localfarmers, potato growing was confined to theBié Plateau, where altitude and the Antarcticocean current produce a moderate climate.

When Angola gained its independence in1975, the country’s annual potato productionwas about 32 000 tonnes, most of it grown inthe highlands of Huambo province.Production stagnated during the ensuing 27 years of civil war but boomed once peacewas restored. FAO data shows that between2002 and 2007 the area under potato tripledand total output more than doubled, from260 000 tonnes to a record of 615 000 tonnes.

Annual potato consumption is estimated at15 kg per capita and is expected to growrapidly with urbanization. However,production is constrained by low averageyields of 5 tonnes per hectare, high post-harvest losses and dependence on importedseed potato. To satisfy demand, Angola alsoimports potatoes from South Africa.

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Afghanistan 20 000 300 000 15.0Armenia 31 612 579 571 18.3Australia 32 000 1 150 000 35.9Azerbaijan 67 110 1 037 317 15.5Bahrain 2 40 20.0Bangladesh 310 000 4 300 000 13.9Bhutan 6 200 57000 9.2China 5 000 000 72 040 000 14.4Cyprus 5 500 135 000 24.5Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea 190 000 1 900 000 10.0Fiji 10 80 8.0French Polynesia 100 900 9.0Georgia 21 200 229 200 10.8India 1 600 000 26 280 000 16.4Indonesia 60 000 1 014 200 16.9Iran (Islamic Republic of) 210 000 5 240 000 25.0Iraq 45 000 740 000 16.4Israel 17 000 658 803 38.8Japan 83 000 2 650 000 31.9Jordan 5 000 170 000 34.0Kazakhstan 155 000 2 414 800 15.6Kuwait 850 23 500 27.6Kyrgyzstan 86 430 1 373 780 15.9Lao People’sDemocratic Republic 5 500 36 000 6.5Lebanon 19 000 490 000 25.8


Mongolia 11 462 114 490 10.0Myanmar 36 000 510 000 14.2Nepal 153 534 1 943 246 12.7New Caledonia 180 2 400 13.3New Zealand 10 050 505 000 50.2Occupied Palestinian Territory 2 200 66 000 30.0Oman 319 9 067 28.4Pakistan 131 900 2 622 300 19.9Papua New Guinea 200 900 4.5Philippines 5 600 72 000 12.9Qatar 5 45 9.0Republic of Korea 22 500 625 000 27.8Saudi Arabia 24 000 570 000 23.8Sri Lanka 5 330 77 390 14.5Syrian Arab Republic 30 000 640 000 21.3Taiwan Province of China 1 600 40 000 25.0Tajikistan 29 800 659 900 22.1Thailand 7 981 125 703 15.8Timor-Leste 400 1 000 2.5Turkey 158 500 4 280 700 27.0Turkmenistan 26 800 159 000 5.9United Arab Emirates 310 7 900 25.5Uzbekistan 50 500 890 000 17.6Viet Nam 35 000 370 000 10.6Yemen 18 276 231 432 12.7Asia/Oceania 8 732 961 137 343 664 15.7Source: FAOSTAT

1 China 2 India 3 Islamic Republic of Iran4 Bangladesh 5 Turkey 6 Japan7 Pakistan

8 Kazakhstan 9 Nepal10 Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea

11 Kyrgyzstan 12 Australia13 Azerbaijan 14 Indonesia

Asia/Oceania: Potato production, 2007

Top producers, 2007

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aboard ships from Europe during the 17thcentury and was introduced to central Chinaby Russian traders around the same time.Production has increased nearly fivefold since 1961. Although Chinese potato outputranks behind that of maize and sweet potato,more than 80 percent of the maize and40 percent of the sweet potato are used asanimal feed. Most of the potatoes go directlyto human consumption, and each year, theChinese consume 40 kg per head.

The potato is important to China not only as a staple food, but also as a source of income, especially for farmers inmountainous areas with poor soils. In northern China’s Inner Mongolia andShanxi provinces, sales of potato account for more than half of rural householdearnings. To help cope with growing shortages of water and land for agriculture,Chinese scientists have proposed a majorexpansion of potato cultivation in dry areas,which account for 60 percent of China’sarable land.

Asia and OceaniaAsia and Oceania includes the world’spotato giant, China, which accounts formore than 20 percent of both the globalpotato-growing area and the world potatoharvest. Several other Asian countries –Bangladesh, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan and Turkey – also figure in the world’s top 20 potato producingcountries. Some of the world’s best yieldsare recorded in New Zealand – on average,around 42 tonnes per hectare.

1. ChinaChina is the world’s biggestpotato producer, with an outputin 2007 of 72 million tonnes.

It is also an increasingly important globalsupplier, with potato exports totalling some250 000 tonnes (raw equivalent) in 2005.

The tuber probably reached coastal China

Roasting potatoesin Zao Tong, China

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Potato harvestin Tamil Nadu,southern India

3. Islamic Republic of IranA British ambassador, Sir JohnMalcolm, is said to haveintroduced the potato to the

royal court of Persia during the early 1800s.For a time, the tuber was known as“Malcolm’s plum”, but it is called the “earthapple” by today’s Iranians.

Iran is the world’s No. 12 potato producerand the third biggest in Asia, after China andIndia. Since 1961, production has increasedmore than 15 times over. In 2007, thecountry’s farmers achieved an all-time recordharvest of 5.24 million tonnes, with perhectare yields averaging 25 tonnes. The potatois one of Iran’s leading agricultural exports,with shipments in 2005 totalling around 166 000 tonnes.

Potatoes are grown mostly under irrigationaround the southern shore of the Caspian Sea,in the Zagros Mountains, and on the southernlowlands, alternated with wheat, vegetables,sugar beets and fallow in three or four yearrotations. Traditional varieties prized for theirculinary qualities continue to be grown in themountainous north.

2. IndiaThe potato reached India in thelate 16th or early 17thcenturies, most likely aboard

ships from Portugal. Today, India ranks as theworld’s third largest potato producing nation,with production in 2007 of around 26 milliontonnes.

Between 1960 and 2000, potato productionincreased by almost 850 percent, partly inresponse to growing demand from higher-income urban populations. Since 1990, percapita consumption has risen from around 12 kg to 17 kg a year.

In India, the aloo is not primarily a ruralstaple but a cash crop that provides significantincome for farmers: the value of the 2005harvest is estimated at $3.6 billion andexports totalled about 80 000 tonnes that year.Potato varieties suited to the country’s climate– hot summers and short winters – are grownon the Indo-Gangetic plain during the shorterdays from October to March, while some year-round production takes place in relativelyhigh altitude areas in the south.


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Second only to tomatoes as a horticulturalcrop, the patates is grown on an estimated158 000 ha of land across the country. TheAnatolian central plateau, with its hot, drysummers and cold winters, is the mostimportant producing region, accounting fornearly half of the national potato area, whileintensive cultivation is conducted on theAegean and Mediterranean coasts. Yields in2007 were a high 27 tonnes per hectare.

Turkey’s current production hovers at 1990levels, and is well below the 2000 recordharvest of 5.4 million tonnes. Annual percapita potato consumption is contracting,from 63 kg in 1990 to a less than 50 kgin 2006.

6. JapanThe potato was probablybrought to Japan by Dutchtraders who established an

enclave in Nagasaki early in the 17th century.But widespread cultivation of the tuber did notbegin until late in the 19th century, when itproved well suited to the cool summers of thenorthern island of Hokkaido.

Today, Hokkaido’s potato farmers produceyields of more than 41 tonnes per hectare andaccount for about two-thirds of the nationalharvest, which totalled some 2.6 milliontonnes in 2007. While that placed the countryat No. 6 among Asia’s potato producers, it wasalso one of the smallest harvests recordedsince the 1960s, when Japan was producingup to 4 million tonnes a year.

Along with the steady decline in productionover recent decades, there has been a shiftfrom home preparation to consumption of

4. BangladeshA British governor promotedpotato cultivation in Bengal inthe 1770s, and within a century

it was a well established garden vegetable.However, large scale production was held back by the lack of suitable varieties:European cultivars were not adapted to thehot Bengali plains.

Today, the potato has become a highlysuccessful October-March winter crop inBangladesh, with a production value – estimated at $560 million in 2005 – secondonly to that of paddy rice. In 2007,Bangladeshi farmers harvested 4.3 milliontonnes of potatoes (12 times more than in1961), which placed the country at No. 14among the world’s potato producers, andNo. 4 in Asia.

The potato is usually grown for cash sale,and much of national production isconcentrated near the capital, Dhaka, thecountry’s largest urban market. Annualconsumption has been growing briskly, fromaround 7 kg per capita in 1990 to more than24 kg in 2005.

5. TurkeyIn some areas of Anatolia, localpotato varieties are still calledruskartoe, commemorating the

tuber’s introduction from the RussianCaucasus in the early 1800s. Potatocultivation has been officially encouraged in Turkey since 1872, and today the country is the Near East’s biggest producer after Iran,with output in 2007 of almost 4.3 milliontonnes.

62International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure processed potato products such as chips and

French fries. To meet domestic demand, Japanimports each year some 650 000 tonnes ofpotatoes, mainly from China.

7. PakistanAlthough potato was grown onthe Indian subcontinent fromthe late 16th or early 17th

centuries, at Pakistan’s foundation in 1947,cultivation was restricted to a few thousandhectares and total annual output was lessthan 30 000 tonnes.

In the decades since independence, theaalu has become the country’s fastest growingstaple food crop. Thanks to strong gains incultivated areas and average yields – bothmade possible mainly by irrigation – outputrose between 1995 and 2007 from one millionto a record of more than 2.6 million tonnes.The lion’s share of potato production comesfrom the Punjab, where spring and autumncrops account for 85 percent of the nationalharvest.

Apart from some subsistence growers in the north, most Pakistani farmers produce for urban markets rather than householdconsumption, and the potato has become a significant source of rural income (worthsome $300 million in 2005). At present,annual intake is around 11 kg per capita.

8. KazakhstanAt the breakup of the SovietUnion in 1991, Kazakhstan wasproducing annually around

2.5 million tonnes of potatoes from an area of240 000 ha. In the turmoil of the followingdecade, there was a steady decline in the sizeof the potato growing area and in potatooutput, which dropped to 1.2 million tonnesin 1998.

Since then, production has rebounded,thanks largely to rapid gains in average per hectare yields, which rose from 7.6 tonnesin 1998 to more than 15 tonnes in 2007. In that year, Kazakh potato farmers harvestedsome 2.4 million tonnes of tubers from155 000 ha of land.

Today, the potato is Kazakhstan’s mostimportant food crop after wheat, with averageper capita consumption of a high 100 kg ayear. While most potatoes are consumed freshor used as fodder, recent years have seenstrong growth in exports of processed potatoproducts, which rose from 1 000 tonnes in2000 to more than 15 000 tonnes in 2005.

9. NepalThe first record of potatoes inNepal dates back to 1793.Although it remained a relativelyminor crop for the next 180 years,some researchers say that its early

introduction to the high altitude Himalayashelped fuel the rise of Buddhist civilization innorthern Nepal.

In the 1970s, a national potatodevelopment programme, aiming atimproving the quality of seed potato,

Potatoes carriedto market in Panutydistrict, Nepal

stimulated a rapid expansion of bothcultivated area and production, whichincreased from 300 000 tonnes in 1975 to arecord 1.97 million tonnes in 2006. Thepotato is now Nepal’s second staple food crop,after rice, and per capita consumption hasalmost doubled since 1990 to 51 kg a year.

Potatoes are widely grown in Nepal, atbelow 100 m altitude in the south to as highas 4 000 m in the northern mountains. Thetuber is particularly favoured by farmers inhigh hills areas (roughly 1 800 to 3 000 m),where it is more productive than rice andmaize and the cool climate is well suited toproduction of seed tubers for sale at loweraltitudes.

10. Democratic People’s Republicof Korea

The potato was introduced tothe Korean peninsula – probably from China –

during the early 1800s. It became a staplecrop during the Japanese occupation from1910 to 1945, replacing rice exported to Japan,and saved many farming families fromstarvation during the Second World War.

The potato remains an essential foodsecurity crop in the Democratic People’sRepublic of Korea. In 2007, it produced an

estimated 1.9 million tonnes, placing thecountry among Asia’s top 10 producers. The area under potato has grown from 36 000 ha to almost 200 000 ha since 1960,while potato output has increased fourfoldover the past decade.

Farmers’ average yields, however, havebarely improved over 1960 levels, mainlyowing to shortages of agricultural inputs andthe lack of virus-free seed potato. To boostproduction, the government is promoting a“potato farming revolution”. Innovationsinclude a low-input potato-rice croppingsystem that produces, in a relatively shortgrowing season, 32 tonnes of potatoes and riceper hectare.

11. KyrgyzstanLying at the heart of Asia, alongthe ancient Silk Road,Kyrgyzstan was introduced to

the potato – and its Russian name, kartófil –during the 1800s. Although the mountainouscountry is suitable mainly for grazinglivestock, the new crop flourished in thetemperate climate of the northern foothills,and today Kyrgyzstanis praise the potato astheir country’s “second bread”.

Since 1992, potato production hasincreased almost fourfold, from 360 000

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64International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure tonnes to a record 1.37 million tonnes in

2007. By head of population, Kyrgyzstan nowranks as the world’s 10th largest potatoproducer, while its annual consumption of potato – more than 140 kg per capita – is second only to that of Belarus.

Potato growing in Kyrgyzstan is held backby shortages of virus-free seed tubers,improved varieties and agricultural inputs.But the country’s rapidly expandingproduction has attracted investors – recentlyannounced joint ventures with companiesfrom India and the Republic of Korea arebuilding potato processing plants that aim at producing 40 000 tonnes of starch and bio-ethanol a year.

12. AustraliaPotatoes were aboard the shipof explorer James Cook whenhe claimed eastern Australia for

Britain in 1770, and their cultivation beganalong with colonization 18 years later. Today,“spuds” are grown across the continent, fromthe temperate southern state of Tasmania totropical North Queensland.

Australian potato production more thandoubled between 1960 and 1990 – from450 000 tonnes to 1.2 million – but since thenoutput has stabilized at an annual average of about 1.3 million tonnes. Potatoes are thecountry’s most important horticultural crop,accounting for more than 40 percent allvegetables grown. Some 60 percent isprocessed into frozen products and crisps,while about 37 percent is marketed fresh.

Competition from foods such as pasta andrice has made recent inroads into the freshpotato market, and FAO estimates thatbetween 1995 and 2005 annual per capitaconsumption of potatoes slipped from 55 kg to 53 kg.

13. AzerbaijanAzerbaijan became part of theRussian empire in 1828 andwas a Soviet republic from 1920

to 1990. During that time, rice, which hadbeen traditionally cultivated in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, gave way topotato (known as kartoşka) in bothagriculture and Azerbaijani cuisine.

Today, Azerbaijan continues to expand itspotato production. Since 1992, the area underpotato has tripled, while yields have morethan doubled. As a result, the national harvestgrew from 156 000 tonnes at the beginning ofthe 1990s to a record 1.1 million tonnes in2006, only slightly less than wheat production(rice output in 2006 was just 5 000 tonnes).

Potato yields average around 17.5 tonnesper hectare, but improved managementtechniques recently introduced by expertsfrom Israel have boosted output to more than50 tonnes in some areas. Azerbaijaniscurrently consume around 82 kg of potatoesper capita per year and, to meet demand, thecountry recently increased imports of potatoesfrom Russia.

In the highlandsof Java, Indonesia

14. IndonesiaThe Dutch East India Companybrought potatoes to West Javaaround 1795, and within 15

years the kentang holanda (or “Dutchtuber”) was being grown by Batak farmers inthe highlands of northern Sumatra.

Today, Indonesia is the biggest potatoproducer in southeast Asia. Between 1960 and the mid-1990s, the country’s potatooutput grew at a rate of almost nine percentper year, and since 2003 annual productionhas averaged more than one million tonnes.

Potato is cultivated throughout thearchipelago, in highland areas of between 800and 1 800 m, mainly by small scale farmers.

Potato growers are largely dependent onseed tubers imported from Germany and theNetherlands. While some potatoes are grownfor export, mainly in northern Sumatra, thebulk of Indonesia’s potato harvest is destinedfor fresh consumption in large urban areas.Indonesia imported some 32 000 tons ofpotatoes in 2006 mainly for processing intofood products.

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1 Russian Federation2 Ukraine3 Poland4 Germany5 Belarus6 Netherlands 7 France

8 United Kingdom 9 Romania10 Belgium 11 Spain 12 Italy 13 Denmark

Europe: Potato production, 2007country area harvested quantity yield

(hectares) (tonnes) (tonnes/ha)Albania 8 200 154 900 18.9Austria 22 675 668 755 29.5Belarus 412 553 8 743 976 21.2Belgium 68 106 2 877 685 42.3Bosnia and Herzegovina 41 291 387 239 9.4Bulgaria 22 427 290 553 13.0Croatia 17 355 296 302 17.1Czech Republic 31 908 820 515 25.7Denmark 41 200 1 625 600 39.5Estonia 11 150 191 754 17.2Faroe Islands 100 1 400 14.0Finland 27 300 701 600 25.7France 145 000 6 271 000 43.2Germany 274 961 11 643 769 42.3Greece 35 500 830 000 23.4Hungary 25 400 531 300 20.9Iceland 712 13 000 18.3Ireland 12 300 454 800 37.0Italy 71 968 1 837 844 25.5Latvia 40 300 642 000 15.9Lithuania 52 800 576 100 10.9


Luxembourg 600 20 200 33.7Malta 700 14 146 20.2Montenegro 10 000 130 000 13.0Netherlands 161 000 7 200 000 44.7Norway 14 421 318 357 22.1Poland 569 600 11 791 072 20.7Portugal 41 400 638 900 15.4Republic of Moldova 353 500 199 000 0.6Romania 267 035 3 705 694 13.9Russian Federation 2 851 660 36 784 200 12.9Serbia 81 379 743 282 9.1Slovakia 17 769 287 667 16.2Slovenia 5 736 131 050 22.8Spain 89 000 2 502 300 28.1Sweden 28 522 790 100 27.7Switzerland 11 800 490 000 41.5The Former Yugoslav Republicof Macedonia 14 000 180 900 12.9Ukraine 1 453 300 19 102 000 13.1United Kingdom 139 000 5 635 000 40.5Europe 7 473 628 130 223 960 17.4Source: FAOSTAT

Top producers, 2007

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potatoes are grown on household plots andprivate farms, with average yields of 13 tonnesper hectare. Pests and diseases are a majorproblem: as much as 4 million tonnes arelost annually to Colorado beetle, late blightand viruses.

EuropeFor most of the 20th century, Europe wasthe undisputed world leader in potatoproduction. While that honour has nowpassed to Asia, seven European countriesare among the top 10 global producers.The continent also has the highest level ofpotato consumption in the world (almost90 kg per capita per year). Many westernEuropean countries are shifting from potatogrowing to processing and production ofseed tubers for export.

1. Russian FederationLegend has it that Czar Peterthe Great, on his voyagethrough western Europe in

1697, sent home Russia’s first bag of potatoes.But for more than a century afterwards, thenew tuber was widely considered poisonousand shunned as “the devil’s apple”.

When Russian farmers finally warmed tothe potato, in the mid-1800s, there was nostopping them. By 1973, Russia wasproducing, along with the other then-Sovietrepublics of Belarus and Ukraine, more than100 million tonnes of potatoes a year. Sincethen, the area dedicated to potato has fallensteadily, and Russia’s annual production overthe past 15 years has stabilized at around 35 million tonnes.

Nevertheless, the Russian Federationremains a “potato giant”, with output secondonly to China in 2007, and the averageRussian consumes a hearty 130 kg of potatoesa year. More than 90 percent of Russian

The Russianscall it kartófil 2. Ukraine

Although potatoes have beengrown in Ukraine since the18th century, the crop adapted

slowly to the Ukrainian climate and wasinitially used mainly to produce starch and alcohol. It was only during the 20thcentury that the crop came to be widelycultivated for food, to the point that it nowrevered as the country’s “second bread”, and potato-filled perogie dumplings are afavourite national dish.

Ukraine is the world’s No. 5 producer ofpotatoes, after China, the Russian Federation,India and the United States of America, and

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Union. Today, Poland still ranks among thetop 10 world producers. However, harvestshave declined in recent years, slipping from36 million tonnes in 1990 to 24.2 milliontonnes in 2000, then plummeting to a recordlow of less than 9 million tonnes in 2006. The2007 harvest of almost 11.8 million tonneswas a welcome “return to form” for Polishproduction.

Ziemniaki are at the heart of Polishagriculture, grown by an estimated 2.2 million farmers using 10 percent of thetotal area for field crops. By recent estimates,almost half of the potato crop is used as farmanimal feed, while 25 percent goes to humanconsumption, which was around 130 kg per capita in 2005.

4. GermanyTaken to Germany at the end ofthe 1500s, the potato was grownalmost exclusively as animal

feed for the next 200 years. But, after a severefamine in the 1770s, German monarchs – notably Frederick the Great of Prussia –promoted the kartoffel as a staple food crop as well.

Today Germany is the world’s seventhlargest potato producer, and the biggest inwestern Europe, with output in 2007 of justover 11.6 million tonnes. Even so, Germanpotato production has been falling since 1960– at that time, the harvest was almost 33 million tonnes and potato growingoccupied 10 percent of all arable land,compared to less than three percent today.

Germany is a major potato processor andexporter. In 2005 it processed 6.5 million

consumes per capita a very high 136 kg a year. Around half of the country’s 1.5million hectares of potato farms are locatedon the black soils of the forest-steppe zone incentral Ukraine, although the best yields areobtained in the Polesye wetlands of the north.

Production in 2004 reached a record 20.7 million tonnes, with average yields ofaround 13 tonnes per hectare. Despite its greatproduction volumes, however, Ukraine is not apotato exporter: a large part of the crop is losteach year to pests – mainly the Coloradopotato beetle – and inadequate storage.


3. PolandThe Polish King John IIISobieski is credited with havingintroduced potatoes – known

initially as amerykany (from “America”) –to his countrymen in the mid-1600s, after avisit to Vienna. Thus began a love affair thatwas to make Poland one of the 20th century’sgiants of potato production.

By 1970, the country was harvesting morethan 50 million tonnes of potatoes a year, aquantity bettered at the time only by the Soviet

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on a third of all lands under potato in theUSSR, and exported more than 500 000tonnes of fresh potato and up to 300 000 tonsof seed potato. Those days are now past: in2005, potato exports amounted to less than 17 000 tonnes.

6. NetherlandsWithin a century of itsintroduction to theNetherlands, in the 1600s, the

potato had become one of the country’s mostimportant food crops. Today, the Netherlandsranks among the world’s top 10 potatoproducers, with a harvest in 2007 of 7.2 million tonnes.

While potato production is declining inmost of Europe, the Dutch still plant almost25 percent of their arable land – some160 000 ha – with aardappel, and haveachieved world record average yields of morethan 45 tonnes per hectare. The potato sectoris highly mechanized and draws on a list of some 250 approved varieties.

Only half of the Netherlands’ potato crop is grown directly for food – around 20 percent is seed potatoes, and the remaining30 percent is processed into starch. About 70 percent of Dutch ware potatoes is exportedin the form of fresh tubers and potatoproducts, such as chips and flour. The

tonnes of potatoes, including 3.3 milliontonnes transformed into potato starch, andexported 1.3 million tonnes of fresh potatoesand 2 million tonnes (primary equivalent) of processed products. It is also a leadingimporter of early potatoes (nearly 550 000tonnes, mostly from France, Italy and Egypt,in 2005).

5. BelarusBelarusians love their potatoes.They consume more per headthan any other country – an

estimated 180 kg, or almost half a kilogram a day. The potato is believed to have beenintroduced to Belarus from the Netherlands,and by the 1800s had already become a staplefood crop and the heart of the country’scuisine.

Today, Belarus ranks eighth among world potato producing countries, and itsannual output – 8.7 million tonnes in 2007 – is about twice that of wheat and barley combined. Over the past 15 years, the country’s harvested area hasshrunk, from 780 000 ha to 400 000 ha, but production has held steady at an averageof 8.6 million tonnes annually, thanks to yield gains.

During the Soviet era, Belarus bredimproved potato varieties that were grown

The Netherlandshas achieved worldrecord yields

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8. United KingdomThe potato reached the UnitedKingdom towards the end of the16th century and was being

grown in London by 1597. The new cropestablished itself rapidly in Ireland but less soin England and Scotland.

The potato’s moment in the UnitedKingdom came later, during the IndustrialRevolution of the 18th and 19th centuries,when the rise of towns – and the new workingclass – created demand for cheap, energy-rich, non-cereal foods. The rest is history. By 1948, production in England and Wales was peaking with almost 400 000hectares under potato.

Since 1960, the harvested area has shrunkby half, and the number of registered potatogrowers from 70 000 to just 3 000. But theUnited Kingdom still ranks No. 11 amongworld potato producing countries, recording

Netherlands is the world’s major supplier ofcertified seed potatoes, with exports of some700 000 tonnes a year.

7. FranceThe pomme de terre wasintroduced to France at thebeginning of the 17th century,

but its true value as food was not recognizeduntil the late 18th century, when a renownedscientist, A.A. Parmentier, recommended it asthe solution to endemic famines that werethen devastating the country.

Potato cultivation took off, with outputrising from 1.5 million tonnes in 1803 to 11.8 million in 1865. Production reached itszenith in 1960, with a harvest of around 14 million tonnes. Since then, there has been a steady decline, with the 2007 harvesttotalling just under 6.3 million tonnes. Some two million tonnes of France’s potatoesare destined for the domestic fresh market,and one million tonnes for the processingindustry. France is Europe’s No. 1 exporter of fresh potatoes, with nearly 1.5 milliontonnes shipped in 2005/2006, and dedicatessome 14 500 ha for production of potatoseedlings.

Today, the potato still has an importantplace in the national diet: the Frenchconsume each year nearly 30 kg per capita of fresh potatoes and another 25 kg ofprocessed products.


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national economy, and for the estimated 2.2 million Romanians who harvest tubersfrom their own small potato patches eachyear. Almost all of Romania’s potatoes aremarketed for fresh consumption, with just 2 percent being processed. In 2005, potatoimports totalled more than 140 000 tonnes,while exports amounted to less than 5 000tonnes.

Romanian researchers are exploring thepotential of the potato as a source of ethanolfor fuel – tubers produced in the southernzone of Romania under irrigation haveyielded enough starch to produce around 4 000 litres of ethanol per hectare.

10. BelgiumOld documents show that aBelgian official in Monsreceived potatoes as a gift from

a friend of the Vatican ambassador in 1587(the following year, he sent samples on to abotanist in Vienna). Within a century theBelgians had made a landmark contributionto potato development, with the invention – they claim – of French fries.

Today, Belgium ranks No. 19 amongthe world’s potato producing countries, withoutput in 2007 of nearly 2.9 million tonnes.Thanks to average yields of 42 tonnes perhectare, the potato is the country’s mainfood crop, even though the cultivated area isless than 5 percent of total farmland.

Less than 15 percent of Belgian potatoesare eaten fresh – about 86 percent areprocessed into crisps, frozen fries, starch and other products. In 2006, the countryexported more than one million tonnes

a 2007 harvest of 5.6 million tonnes andaverage yields exceeding 40 tonnes perhectare. With annual per capita potatoconsumption of 102 kg, demand for potatoexceeds domestic supply: in 2005, the UnitedKingdom imported more than 1.2 milliontonnes (raw equivalent) of processed potatoproducts.

9. RomaniaRomania is among the world’stop 20 potato producers. It isalso one of the few European

countries where potato production hasactually been increasing – from 2.8 milliontonnes in 1961 to more than 4 million tonnesin 2006 – while potato consumption percapita has more than doubled since 1990.

The cartof was introduced to Transylvaniafrom Germany in the 1700s. Today it is animportant crop for Romania’s agriculture and

72International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure of processed potatoes and 21 000 tonnes of

seed potatoes. It also imported more than 1.2 million tonnes of fresh potatoes and 140 000 tonnes of potato products, mainlyfrom France, Germany and the Netherlands.

11. SpainWhile no one knows the exactdate of the potato’s arrival inEurope, its entry point was

probably Spain’s Canary Islands, whereS. tuberosum was cultivated at least as earlyas the mid-1500s (later records show thatpotatoes were served to patients in theHospital de la Sangre in Seville in 1573).

While initially prized more for its flowersthan as a food crop, the patata was amainstay of Spanish agriculture throughoutmost of the 20th century, with annualproduction exceeding 5 million tonnes up tothe 1990s. Today, however, as elsewhere inwestern Europe, potato production is on thewane in Spain. In 2007, the country produced2.5 million tonnes of tubers, while theharvested area has fallen from 270 000 ha in 1990 to less than 90 000.

As a result, Spain is now a major potatoimporter. Since 1990, annual imports of rawand processed potatoes, mainly from France,Germany, Italy and Morocco, have risen from395 000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes.

12. ItalyIn 1565, Spain’s King Philip IIis said to have sent to Rome agift of potato tubers for Pope

Pius IV, who passed samples on to a cardinalin Belgium. Along with the tubers went theirItalian name – tartufoli (or “little truffles”)– which, as the samples were cloned anddisseminated throughout Europe, was adoptedin German (kartoffel), Romanian (cartof),Russian (kartófil) and even Icelandic(kartafla).

Although the potato – called patata bymodern Italians – was a staple food forgenerations of rural families, potato growingin Italy has been declining since the 1960s,when farmers produced 4 million tonnes from380 000 ha of land. Large areas unsuitable forpotato have since been abandoned, althoughper hectare yields have increased from 10 tonnes to around 25 tonnes.

Pasta-loving Italy has one of the lowestlevels of potato consumption in Europe, lessthan 40 kg per capita annually. Even so,satisfying domestic demand required importsof more than one million tonnes of raw andprocessed potato in 2005.

Harvest in Calabria,Italy

A field of práta,Ireland

13. DenmarkAlthough the first potato tuberwas planted in Denmark’sRoyal Botanical Garden in

1642, Danish farmers did not start growing ituntil almost a century later, around 1720. It isbelieved that farming of potatoes wasintroduced either from England and Irelandor by the Huguenots emigrating from France.

Potato production in Denmark totalledsome 1.6 million tonnes in 2007, with yieldsof 39 tonnes per hectare. Little more than onethird of total output is consumed directly asfresh potatoes. In fact, more than half ofDenmark’s potato harvest is processed intopotato starch and flour, while nine percent isused as seed potatoes for replanting.

Each year, the average Dane consumesabout 73 kg of potatoes. While per capitaconsumption is below that of other Europeancountries, such as Ireland, potatoes arenevertheless an important part of the nationaldiet. Potatoes are almost ubiquitous in Danishcooking, and an essential side dish to everyhot meal. Denmark’s legendary akvavit isdistilled from potatoes.

25. IrelandNo, Ireland is not a very bigpotato producer, but it deservesspecial recognition. The Irish

were the first to give the tuber a truly warmwelcome to Europe in the early 17th century,and the práta has been an intimate part ofthe country’s history ever since.

It is also associated with a nationaltragedy. By the 19th century, potatoes supplied80 percent of people’s calorie intake and was a major source of livestock feed. Butdependence on the potato proved a double-edged sword: in the 1840s, potato blightdestroyed most of Ireland’s potato crop,leading to a famine that caused the deaths of one million people and the emigration ofmillions more.

Today more potatoes are still eaten inIreland than in most other countries of theworld. In 2007, Ireland’s 830 potato farmersproduced an estimated 455 000 tonnes ofpotatoes, 85 percent being ware potatoes forconsumption, and the rest seed potato forreplanting.

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Argentina 68 000 1950 000 28.7Belize 55 730 13.3Bolivia 135 600 755 000 5.6Brazil 142 327 3 375 054 23.7Chile 54 528 831 054 15.2Colombia 110 000 1 900 000 17.3Costa Rica 2 220 53 500 24.1Cuba 12 000 290 000 24.2Dominica 12 120 10.0Dominican Republic 2 450 52 000 21.2Ecuador 52 000 355 000 6.8El Salvador 237 5 218 22.0Guatemala 11 000 300 000 27.3Haiti 880 10 000 11.4Honduras 1 350 22 000 16.3Jamaica 580 9 000 15.5Mexico 64 709 1 750 797 27.1Nicaragua 2 400 33 000 13.8Panama 1 300 26 000 20.0Paraguay 200 1 300 6.5Peru 269 441 3 388 147 12.6Uruguay 7 925 118 362 14.9Venezuela (Bolivarian Rep. of) 24 552 456 661 18.6Latin America 963 766 15 682 943 16.3Source: FAOSTAT

1 Peru2 Brazil 3 Argentina 4 Colombia 5 Mexico 6 Chile

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of Venezuela 9 Ecuador 10 Guatemala 11 Cuba

Latin America: Potato production, 2007

Top producers, 2007

75POTATOWORLD

are often grown to satisfy urban consumerpreferences. To help conserve the country’srich potato heritage, the Government of Perucreated in July 2008 a national register ofPeruvian native potato varieties.

2. BrazilBrazil is the centre of origin ofthe world’s premier root crop,cassava. Yet cultivation of

potatoes was virtually unknown until the late1800s, when European immigrantsintroduced the tuber to relatively temperateareas of southern Brazil (in the state of SãoPaulo, potato can be grown and harvestedalmost every month of the year).

While the potato, known locally as batatainglesa, is still a minor crop for Brazilianagriculture, the country ranks as LatinAmerica’s second biggest potato producer, withproduction of more than 3.3 million tonnesin 2007. Over the past 15 years, the country’spotato output has grown by an average of five

Latin AmericaThe potato originated in South America, yet the region has the world’s lowest level of potato production, less than 16 milliontonnes in 2007. The potato remains atraditional crop for small farmers in theAndean region, where it is cultivated alongwith potato species unknown elsewhere. In other countries – Argentina, Brazil,Colombia and Mexico – production of Solanum tuberosum by large scalecommercial growers is increasing.

1. PeruThe potato has been essential tothe diet of Peruvians formillennia. Archaeological

evidence indicates that the potato wascultivated in the Peruvian Andes 8 000 yearsago, and recent research suggests the potato’scentre of origin lies in Peru, just north of LakeTiticaca. Today, Peru’s farmers cultivate fourspecies of potato: Solanum tuberosum, plusthree other species exclusive to the Andes.

Peru is also Latin America’s biggest potatoproducer, with a record harvest in 2007 ofalmost 3.4 million tonnes. Annualconsumption is a high 80 kg per capita. Thepotato is produced mainly by small farmers,at altitudes of from 2 500 m to 4 500 m in the central Andes, while a smaller area in coastal valleys is devoted to irrigatedcommercial production.

The great genetic diversity found inPeruvian potatoes is considered “underthreat” from new commercial varieties that

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76International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure percent a year, and average yields have

increased from 14 tonnes to 24 tonnes perhectare.

Although few of Brazil’s potatoes areexported, annual consumption is estimated at a low 14 kg per capita. But that is expectedto change: as one of the world’s emergingeconomic giants, Brazil is considered a prizemarket for processed potato snacks.

3. ArgentinaAlthough western Argentina lieswithin the area of origin of wildpotatoes, evidence of potato

production there dates from the 1870s, when 2 400 hectares were planted with tubersalmost certainly imported from Europe.

Today, potato production is large-scale andhighly mechanized, and concentrated aroundBuenos Aires and Santa Fe.

Over the past 50 years, Argentina’s potatooutput has changed very little: the 2007harvest of 1.9 million tonnes was only slightlyless than that of 1961. Since the early 1960sthe national harvest has averaged around2 million tonnes, with only occasional peaks(in 1998, it reached 3.4 million). Levels ofpotato consumption – around 44 kg percapita per year in 2005 – have changed littlesince 1990.

However, yield has improved markedly.Along with a steady drop in the size of theharvested area, from 200 000 ha in 1961 to around 68 000 in 2007, per hectare yieldshave more than tripled to almost 30 tonnes.In 2005, Argentina exported 33 000 tonnes of potatoes and 4 000 tonnes of potato flour.

4. ColombiaIn 1538, a Spanish visitor to the central mountain ranges inpresent-day Colombia noted

that local people cultivated “a kind of earthtruffle” – which were probably potatoes. Infact, Colombia lies along the northern edge of the Andean centre of potato origin anddomestication.

While the “earth truffle” is still asubsistence crop for many small farmers in Colombia, it is also the focus of the largestcommercial potato industry in the Andeanregion. In 2000, production reached morethan 2.8 million tonnes, thanks largely to yields of around 17 tonnes per hectare, farabove those achieved in Bolivia, Ecuador D

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Tuber transportin Antioquia, Colombia

and Peru. Since then, the harvested area has shrunk from 170 000 to 110 000 hectares, and production in 2007 stood at 1.9 million tonnes.

Potato is grown mainly at altitudesof 1 800 to 2 300 m in the Cordillera Centraland Cordillera Oriental mountain ranges.Since the 1990s, there has been a rapidincrease in potato processing, which accountsfor 12 to 14 percent of the total harvest.

5. MexicoThe presence of wild potatoplants in Mexico indicates thatit lies within the potato’s area

of origin. However, some evidence suggestscultivated varieties were brought there bySpanish conquerors during the 1500s.

Until the early 1960s, potato growing waslimited to rainfed areas above 2 000 m involcanic zones of central Mexico, with annualproduction of about 300 000 tonnes and yieldsbelow six tonnes per hectare. Over thefollowing 20 years, production expanded intoirrigated commercial areas in the north andwest, where yields today reach 40 tonnes.While the area dedicated to potato haschanged little since 1980, average yields havealmost tripled since 1961 and productionreached a record 1.75 million tonnes in 2007.

Per capita consumption of potato inMexico stands at 17 kg a year, very lowcompared to its maize intake of 400 kg. Butpotato imports from Canada and the USAhave grown in recent years, reaching 65 000tonnes of fresh potatoes and 122 000 tonnesof frozen products in 2006.

6. ChileAlthough the potato originatedin the Andes, recentlyuncovered DNA evidence

indicates that varieties grown around theworld today were developed mainly fromChilean cultivars. While the Andean potatopredominated in Europe in the 1700s,germplasm introduced from Chile becamepredominant in the 1800s.

Chile is the sixth biggest potato producerin Latin America, with a record harvest in2006 of almost 1.5 million tonnes, on a parwith the country’s output of maize and wheat. Although potatoes can be grownthroughout Chile, production is concentratedin the provinces between Coquimbo, in thenorth, and Chiloé (including Chiloé Island,where it was already cultivated in pre-Colombian times).

More than half of Chile’s potatoes areeaten fresh (consumption is estimated at 51 kg per capita per year, almost unchangedsince 1990), while around 10 percent isprocessed, and 15 percent is used as seedpotato. By value, seed potato accounts foralmost half of the country’s potato exports,destined mainly for Brazil and Venezuela.

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78International Yearof the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure 7. Bolivia

Cultivated in the Bolivian Andes for thousands of years,the potato is today the country’s

most important food crop, along withsoybeans. It is grown across some 135 000 hectares of land by an estimated 200 000 farmers, the vast majority of themsmallholders who produce mainly forhousehold consumption.

Most farmers rely heavily on traditionalvarieties that are well adapted to Bolivia’s“high climatic risk” (on the altoplano,especially, the potato crop is exposedfrequently to hail, frost and drought). One such native variety is the hardy “bitterpotato”, which is cultivated at altitudes ashigh as 4 300 m and processed into a driedproduct, chuño, that can be stored for up to 10 years.

Over the past decade, Bolivia’s potatoproduction has expanded steadily, thanksmainly to higher yields, and stood at 755 000 tonnes in 2007. However, recentgrowth in imports of wheat and rice iscreating strong competition for potatofarmers, especially in urban markets.

8. Bolivarian Republic of VenezuelaThe northern extensions of theAndes in western Venezuela arehome to some 20 species of wild

potato and account for most of the country’spotato production. In subsistence farmingareas between 2 000 and 2 500 m, the potatois the main cultivated crop, while commercialproduction is concentrated in hilly areas ofthe state of Lara.

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Potato output has grown steadily since the1960s, and nearly doubled between 1990 and2007 to a record 450 000 tonnes. Almost all ofVenezuela’s potatoes are fresh marketed,prompting government efforts to diversifyproduction to varieties suitable for processing.Although per capita consumption is a low12 kg a year, demand was sufficient to requireimports of more than 80 000 tonnes of rawand processed potato in 2005.

Cultivation in the high Venezuelan Andesis threatened by the loss of potato geneticdiversity adapted to the region’s climatic andecological conditions. An ongoingprogramme is encouraging farmers toproduce disease-free seed potatoes usinglocal varieties.

9. EcuadorEcuador’s Andean region lieswithin the potato’s area ofgenetic diversity, and

particularly rich diversity of wild potato isfound in central Ecuador. Cultivation isgenerally undertaken by small farmers withless than five hectares of land, one of which istypically devoted to potato.

Input costs and the higher profitability ofother crops has led to marked fluctuations inthe country’s potato output: over the pastdecade, total production has fallen from morethan 450 000 tonnes to 350 000, while thecultivated area has shrunk from 65 000 ha toaround 50 000.

Potato production is becoming morecommercially oriented in response to demandfrom Ecuador’s growing urban sector, whichaccounts for more than 60 percent of the

11. CubaThe first reference to potato inCuba dates from 1798, when aland-owner complained about

a shortage of suitable seed potato. In fact, thelack of varieties adapted to Cuba’s tropicalisland climate discouraged generations offarmers from growing the tubers.

Since the 1970s, production has increasedsteadily thanks to the use of seed potatoimported from France and the Netherlands,which can be reproduced locally for up tothree consecutive years. Cuba’s potato outputreached a record 370 000 tonnes in the year2000 and, since then, annual harvests haveaveraged more than 300 000 tonnes.

Yields have doubled since 1990. Today, perhectare output is more than 24 tonnes,amongst the highest levels in Latin Americaand 50 percent higher than the world average.Production is concentrated in areas aroundthe capital, Havana, and is used mainly forFrench fries. Annual per capita potatoconsumption is around 30 kg.

population. Almost all potatoes produced areconsumed locally, with per capitaconsumption of around 25 kg per year.

10. GuatemalaThe highlands of central andwestern Guatemala offer oftenideal conditions for potato

growing. At altitudes of between 1 500 and2 800 m, where average temperatures rangefrom 7°C to 25°C, farmers can harvestpotatoes within 100 days of planting, and infrost-free irrigated areas, tubers are cultivatedthroughout the year.

As a result, Guatemala ranks as CentralAmerica’s leading potato producer, with arecord harvest in 2007 of 300 000 tonnes.Average yields are estimated at more than 27tonnes per hectare, second only to Argentinain the Latin American region.

The potato has become a valuable cashcrop for small farmers, who grow it mainly forsale to urban areas and for export toneighbouring countries. However,Guatemala’s potential as a potato producer isconstrained by a shortage of certified plantingmaterial and fragmentation of supply chains.Recently, the government approvedimportation of seed potato from Argentinaand is promoting the creation of small-scalepotato producers’ associations.

79POTATOWORLD

Potato seller in Antigua,Guatemala

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Bermuda 45 1 100 24.4Canada 158 927 4 970 938 31.3United States of America 456 906 20 373 267 44.6North America 615 878 25 345 305 41.2Source: FAOSTAT

North America: Potato production, 2007

1 United States of America 2 CanadaTop producers, 2007

81POTATOWORLD

were served at the White House during thePresidency of Thomas Jefferson some 80 years later).

In 2007, the United States harvested 20.3million tonnes of potatoes, enough to make itthe world’s fourth biggest producer. Potatoesin the United States are grown in nearly everystate, although about half of the crop comesfrom Idaho, Washington, Wisconsin, NorthDakota, Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Minnesota,California and Michigan. Most potatoes areharvested in September and October.

Only about one third of the potatoes grownin the United States is consumed fresh.Around 60 percent of annual output isprocessed into frozen products (such as frozenfries and wedges), crisps, dehydrated potatoand starch, while 6 percent is re-used as seed

North AmericaNorth American potato production isconcentrated in two countries – the UnitedStates of America and Canada, which rank4th and 13th, respectively, in the potatoproducing world (their closest regionalrival, Bermuda, produced 1 100 tonnes in2007). Since 1990, both countries haveachieved notable increases in yields, whichnow average around 44 tonnes in theUnited States. Both are also major exportersof frozen potato products.

1. United Statesof America

Although the potato was grownin South America for millennia,the first potato patch in North

America was only planted in 1719, in New Hampshire (the first French fries

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Potato harvester in Anza,California

Since the early 1990s, Canadian potatoproduction has expanded to meetinternational demand for frozen potatoproducts. In 2006-07, Canada shipped 970 000 tonnes of frozen French fries toforeign markets, making it the second largestFrench fry exporter after the Netherlands. In the same period, it exported 120 000 tonnesof seed potatoes valued at $38 million and 470 000 tonnes of table potatoes worth$140 million.

Potatoes account for about 36 percentof all fresh and processed vegetablesconsumed in Canada. Despite the potato’spopularity, however, total consumption hasdeclined from 76 kg per person in 1994to 65 kg in 2007.

potato. Americans eat more than 54 kgof potatoes per capita every year. However,fresh potato consumption has declined frommore than 22 kg per person in 1993to just 16 kg in 2006.

2. CanadaPotatoes were first grownby settlers in New Brunswick,on Canada’s Atlantic coast, as

early as the mid-1600s. Today, Canada ranksas the world’s 13th largest potato grower, with2007 output of almost five million tonnes.The potato accounts for one third of allvegetable farm cash receipts, or $846 millionin 2007, making it Canada’s most importanthorticultural crop.


Potato fieldson Prince Edward Island,

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IYP aroundthe globe

People observed the International Yearwith scientific conferences, potato growers' congresses,

festivals of biodiversity, cooking contests,art exhibitions, block parties and school events.

Highlights of a global celebration...

Flowering potatoplants are showered withribbons at a festivalin the Andes, Peru

JANUARY

IndiaIInternational expoin KolkataThe world’s No. 3 potato producer,India, helped launch the Year of thePotato with an International PotatoExpo in Kolkata. Organized by theIndian Chamber of Commerce and theGovernment of West Bengal State, theexpo showcased the potential of Indiaas a hub for potato production andprocessing. Activities included a two-day conference, field visits, and threedays of exhibitions and cultural events.The host state, West Bengal, is India’ssecond largest potato producer, withannual output of more than 7 milliontonnes.

EcuadoriA seminar, then a carnivalEcuador was one of the first countriesto form a national committee for IYPcelebrations. Events got under waywith a workshop organized by FAO andCIP on strategies for small farmerparticipation in the potato economy.The seminar, attended by delegatesfrom producer organizations, NGOsand local governments, was followedby a potato carnival in the farmingarea of Alto Guanujo, where 200people sampled potato dishes andshared the results of a three-year studyon the uses of native potato varieties.

CanadaiPotato technology on showWarming up for the new potatoplanting season, two of Canada’spremier potato-growing provinceshosted conferences and technologyexhibitions in February. The NewBrunswick Potato Conference andTrade Show featured two days ofdeliberations on topics ranging fromdemand prospects to late blight andclimate change. On neighbouringPrince Edward Island, the biennialTechnology Expo provided a showcasefor 100 leading suppliers.

Syrian Arab RepubliciWorkshop at DamascusUniversityDamascus University hosted a nationalworkshop on the potato whichincluded presentations on the resultsof FAO projects to strengthen theSyrian Arab Republic’s capacity forvirus-free seed potato productionusing tissue culture, monitor aphidpests of potato, and set standards forseed certification.

85IYP AROUNDTHE GLOBE

FEBRUARY

SwitzerlandiOdyssey of the potatoin EuropeThe International Potato Center inPeru launched a travelling exhibit “TheOdyssey of the Potato”, which visited10 European cities during 2008. Theexhibit, which opened at the FederalInstitute of Technology in Zurich,Switzerland, on 1 February, illustratedthe domestication of the potato inPeru, its introduction to Europe anddissemination worldwide, and itsimportant role today in food securityand economic development.

IrelandiChallenge for IrishschoolkidsPrimary school children across Irelandreceived potato seed tubers as part ofa “Meet the spuds!” Challenge – apotato-growing competitionsponsored by the country’s AgriAwareTrust, the IYP national committee andthe Irish Department of Agriculture. Asthe plants grew, pupils recordedprogress with drawings, photos andwritten observations. In June, photosof the harvested crop were submittedfor final assessment. The eightwinning schools received a cash grant.

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Gnocchi night in Seattleto raise fundsSabrina Tatta, a lecturer in ItalianStudies at the University ofWashington in Seattle, hosted acooking evening where she preparedgnocchi (Italian dumplings made fromboiled and sieved potatoes mixed withflour). “The objective,” she said, “is tocelebrate Italian cooking and raisefunds for undergraduate scholarships.We also hope to raise awareness aboutItalian culture, biodiversity and thepotato as a tool for achievingMillennium Development Goals.”

EgyptiPotato on display in CairoEgypt is the biggest potato producer inAfrica, with an output in 2007 of some2.6 million tonnes. It was, therefore,an appropriate venue for FAO’s NearEast Regional Conference, which wasattended by high-ranking agricultureofficials from 32 countries stretchingfrom Morocco to Afghanistan.Between discussions ontransboundary animal diseases,pesticide management and climatechange, delegates viewed apresentation on IYP and the potato.


MARCH

PeruiPapa, madre on displayin CuscoFrench photographer Jean-LouisGonterre held an exhibition entitledPapa, madre at the Inca Museum inCusco for most of the month of March.On display was a collection of 50striking photographs taken in Bolivia,Ecuador and Peru with the potato – orpapa – as the central theme. Indocumenting the age-old cycle ofpotato planting and harvesting,Gonterre paid homage to the Andeanfarmers who have nurtured Solanumtuberosum and moulded it intocountless varieties.

ItalyiIYP celebratedin northern ItalyThe Regional Agency for RuralDevelopment, in northern Italy’s FriuliVenezia Giulia region, organized apotato exhibition during the annualhorticulture show in Pordenone.Visitors were offered potato dishesfrom around the world prepared by awomen’s intercultural association. Theagency also sponsored on 8 March aninternational potato conference, withparticipants from FAO, the EuropeanUnion, the Italian Ministry ofAgriculture and the Alpe-Adria region.

ArgentinaiCourse in papa productionThe agricultural research station atBalcarce, near Buenos Aires, beganbreeding potatoes in 1940. Today, thestation covers some 2 000 ha of land,with a staff of 250, and specializes inresearch on genetic enhancement,seed analysis, micropropagation andnematology. The station shared itsknowledge with agricultural sciencegraduates from Argentina and otherLatin American countries through asix-day course on potato production,beginning on 10 March.

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IYP on the webRepresenting 4 000 potato growers,the United States Potato Board saysfurther growth in the industry willcome from innovation. To celebrateIYP 2008, the Board bought primecyberspace – on the Food Networkwebsite – to supply busy mothersbetween the ages of 25 and 50(among the most active users of theinternet) with meal ideas andnutrition information.


PeruiGlobal potato conferencein CuscoThe historic city of Cusco, Peru, at theheart of the potato’s Andean centre oforigin, hosted in March one of themajor events of the International Year:a landmark global conference on“Potato science for the poor”sponsored by the International PotatoCenter and the Food and AgricultureOrganization.

During the four-day conference, morethan 100 of theworld’s leadingauthorities on thepotato and on research-for-development sharedinsights and recentresearch results todevelop strategies forincreasing theproductivity, profitabilityand sustainability ofpotato-based systems.

They addressed potato developmentchallenges facing three distincteconomic typologies – outlined in theWorld Bank’s World Development Report2008 – in the developing world. Thefirst is agriculture-based countries,mainly in Africa, where the poor areconcentrated in rural areas andproduce potato for home consumption

first and then sale to localmarkets. CIP and FAO saya priority for thesecountries is research andtechnology sharing tosupport a “sustainableproductivityrevolution” and to linkproducers to domesticand regionalcommodity markets.

Differentstrategies areneeded for the“transformingeconomies” ofAfrica, Asia, theMiddle East and

North Africa, wherepotato systems are characterized byvery small, intensively managed farmsand by a widening rural-urbanpoverty gap. The challenge for thosecountries is to sustainably manageintensive systems, increasing

productivity while minimizing healthand environmental risks.

In the urbanized economies typicalof Latin America, Central Asia andEastern Europe, where agricultureplays a reduced role, the challenge isto ensure the social andenvironmental sustainability ofpotato-based systems and link smallpotato producers to new foodmarkets.

Farmer-researchers. Conferenceparticipants visited a 12,000 ha“Potato Park” near Cusco, wherefarmer-researchers have restored toproduction over 600 traditionalAndean potato varieties, providing thegenetic building blocks of futurevarieties.

One of the outputs of the conferencehas been dubbed the “CuscoChallenge”, a year-long dialoguewithin the global potato sciencecommunity that will address issuesand opportunities in the futuredevelopment of this essential crop.

CIP

Potatoes seen

as answer to high

cereal costsFood scientists are meeting

in Cusco, Peru, to find ways

of boosting world potato

production to ease the strain

of surging cereal prices on

the world's poorest countries.

The conference aims to

expand the role of a crop

that produces more food on

less land than maize, wheat

or rice. Financial Times

27 March 2008

AustraliaiSpud Day, and a recipe bookThe Wimmera Home Educators’ Group– parents who educate their childrenat home – has celebratedInternational Years for Mountains(2002) and for Deserts andDesertification (2006). For IYP, thegroup held a potato day in the town ofDimboola on 13 March and produced apotato recipe book. Farmers growcereals on Wimmera’s drylands, but arenow turning to higher value crops sucholives and potatoes.

CanadaiHomage to St. Patrickand “the spud”Each year on St. Patrick’s Day (the feastday of Ireland’s patron saint), a groupof citizens in Vancouver, Canada,organize a “Homage to the Spud”

celebration inrecognition of thepotato’s contribution toIrish life and culture.Participants bring

dishes in which potatoes are themain ingredient, and prizes areawarded for the most creative dish.The event also serves to raise funds forlocal charities that support youthoutreach services.


APRILMARCH

ChinaiCall for action at potatocongressMore than 120 delegates from Chinaand abroad met in Beijing for theninth China Potato Congress, co-organized by the Chinese PotatoAssociation and the Ministry ofAgriculture. Describing the potatoindustry as vital to national foodsecurity and rural development, theVice-Minister of Agriculture, WeiChaoan, said action was needed toimprove seed potato quality, introducenew varieties and improve processingtechnology.

Sri LankaiPotato symposiumin Sri Lanka To celebrate IYP, Sri Lanka’sDepartment of Agriculture hosted asymposium on “Potato: Opportunitiesand challenges in the newmillennium” at its Sita EliyaAgricultural Research Station.Established in 1960, and proposed as anational potato research centre, thestation currently produces disease-freeplanting material and develops earlymaturing, high yielding varietiesadapted to the country’s croppingsystems.

NetherlandsiPatents, potatoesand sharing technologyAn international conference was heldat Wageningen University andResearch Centre on 11 April to discuss“possible tensions” between thepractice of public organizations topatent their innovations in the lifesciences, and the need to ensuredeveloping countries’ access to newtechnologies. International expertspresented their views on this complexissue, with particular reference to thecase of potato research atWageningen, and offered potentialsolutions to the dilemmas at hand.


ChinaiProgress reporton late blightLate blight – the mould disease thatcaused Ireland's disastrous “potatofamine” – remains one of the mostdestructive diseases of S. tuberosum.But the last five years have seen majoradvances in many areas of research onlate blight and its causal agent,Phytophthora infestans. Leadingscientists met in Beijing for the ThirdInternational Late Blight Conference,to consolidate new knowledge andfoster greater internationalcollaboration.

Brazili“Potato’s importanceto humanity”Delegates from 21 countries of LatinAmerica and the Caribbean celebratedIYP at the FAO Regional Conferenceheld in Brasilia. The IndependentChairman of the FAO Council,Mohammed Saeid Noori-Naeini, saidthat through IYP the world hadrecognized “the importance of thepotato to humanity” and thecontribution to agriculture of othercrops domesticated in the region,including maize, cassava, beans andcacao.

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AustraliaiOutdoor art “inspiredby spud”Every two years, the city of Sydneyhosts a one-day “Art in the park”exhibition of contemporary art.Inspired by IYP, the subject of theexhibition in 2008 was the “humblespud”. The curator urged local andvisiting artists to contribute “artworksinspired by the potato – potatoes asmetaphor, potatoes as subject,potatoes as medium”. The day’s eventincluded entertainment andworkshops for both adults andchildren.

PeruiFirst national potatocongressPeru held its first ever National PotatoCongress in the city of Huancayo, inthe country’s central highlands, from20 to 23 May. Organized around thetheme of “Science, art and business”,the congress included presentationson potato production, processing,marketing and utilization, exhibits onbiodiversity and potato gastronomy,and a visit to the national potatoresearch station at Santa Ana.

FranceiPotatoes as haute cuisineThe Cordon Bleu School in Paris held aone-day course on applying Frenchculinary techniques in the preparationof potato dishes. Working under thesupervision and guidance of a chef,students prepared five recipes usingdifferent types of pommes de terre. Thestudents were free to take home andconsume their day’s work. The CordonBleu school, a world leader ingastronomic education, first opened inParis in 1895.

BangladeshiLaunch of country-widecampaignAs part of IYP, Bangladeshlaunched a nation-widePotato Campaign. Jointlyorganized by theBangladeshi Ministry ofDefence, the Ministry ofAgriculture and FAO, thecampaign aimed atpromoting the potato as partof a diversified diet, andincreasing consumption of thecountry’s 2007 bumper harvestof 4.3 million tonnes. The launchwas followed by initiatives atdistrict and sub-district levelthroughout the month of May.

ChinaiPotato cuisine promotedin BeijingIYP representatives distributedpromotional materials and mounted aphotographic exhibition on the potatoat the annual convention of the ChinaCuisine Association, held in Beijing.The convention was attended by 1 000people from local cuisine associations,catering companies and researchinstitutes. Addressing visitors, thegovernor of Dingbian County, inShaanxi Province – China’s mainpotato growing region – said the foodindustry should increase investmentsin the potato.

SloveniaiMonument to the krompirIn Slovenia, an association dedicatedto pan-frying potatoes with onionsunveiled a monument to thepotato in the mountain townof Šencur on 25 May. Themonument depicts MariaTheresa, the archduchess ofAustria (who decreed in themid-18th century thatSlovenian farmersshould start growingpotatoes) with a tuberin her hand.


MAYJUNE

SwitzerlandiEuropatat:60th general assembly

Europatat, an umbrella organization ofwholesale potato merchants in 16European countries, held its 60thgeneral assembly in Bern, Switzerlandfrom 29-31 May. The meeting, whichfocused on “the potato in the future”,featured presentations on theinfluence of climate change on potatofarming, the potential of geneticmodification, and the viewpoints ofproducers and consumers ongenetically modified potatoes.

PeruiNational Potato DayPeru celebrated its National PotatoDay on 30 May with ceremonies andfestivities. In Cusco, local authoritiesheld a native potato gastronomyfestival, while in Lima potato growersfrom 14 regions of Peru gathered for apotato fair in the Park of Legends.

South AfricaiPotato exhibitionin PretoriaThe University of Pretoria in SouthAfrica hosted a potato photographicexhibition provided by the Embassy ofPeru for the whole month of June aspart of the country’s IYP celebrations.The potato producers and processors’association, Potatoes South Africa,announced that, in support of theMillennium Development Goal oferadicating poverty, five cents wouldbe donated to charity for every bag ofpotatoes sold up to December 2008.

NetherlandsiAll about seed systemsThe Wageningen University andResearch Centre in the Netherlandsheld a three-week course on seedpotato technology, certification andsupply systems. The course coveredthe use of modern technology in bothformal and informal seed supplysystems in different agro-ecologicalregions of the world. Relevantexamples from the Dutch seed potatoindustry were demonstrated anddiscussed.

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KenyaiPresident Kibaki visitsIYP exhibitThe President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki(left) and FAO’s Director General,Jacques Diouf (right), toured the IYPexhibit at the FAO Regional Conferencefor Africa, held in Nairobi. They werebriefed by Juan Landeo (centre), SeniorPotato Breeder at CIP’s Office for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Republic of Koreai“Month of the potato”festivalWith an average summer temperatureof around 23°C, the mountainouscounty of Goesan, in the Republic ofKorea, is well suited to potatoproduction. In June, the county’spotato farmers invited city dwellers toparticipate in cooking contests at theannual “Month of the potato” festival.As well as growing excellent potatoes,Goesan is known for its chili peppersand ginseng.

PolandiPotato processingand storageTop-level experts from the potatoscience and business communitiesmade presentations at theInternational Potato Processing andStorage Convention held in Warsaw inJune. Topics ranged from pest anddisease control strategies to trends infood safety legislation, businessopportunities in emerging markets,and GMO risks in the supply chain.

AustriaiPotato a “collectiveheritage”A report to the FAO Regional

Conference for Europe, held inInnsbruck, Austria, said

Finland’s lapin puikulapotato was one ofmany traditionalagricultural and

food products inEurope that are “a

collective heritage resulting from acomplex, historical interactionbetween humans and theirenvironment”. The Conference wasattended by delegates from 42countries and the European Union.

PeruiBiodiversity awardsfor Peruvian farmersThe future of world potato productiondepends on efforts to conserve and usethe rich potato genepool in the crop’scentre of origin, Peru. To honour thosewho have contributed to conservingAndean native potato varieties, thePeruvian government and the nationalIYP committee awarded prizes to 35farmers, farming families andcommunities in Lima on 25 June,which is also Peru’s NationalFarmers’ Day.

EcuadoriPotato congress in QuitoWith the support of FAO, the CentralUniversity of Ecuador hosted in Quitothe country’s Third Potato Congress,which focused on environmentalimpacts of potato production, newopportunities for processed potatoproducts and a land suitabilityassessment. The congress wasattended by 380 delegates from 50institutions.

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RomaniaiEuropean Associationfor Potato ResearchPotato experts gathered in Brasov,Romania, in July for the four-daycongress of the European Associationfor Potato Research (EAPR). Lectures,workshops and poster presentationscovered advances in genomics andbreeding, micropropagationinnovations, new insights into cropmanagement, potato productdevelopment, climate change, and thechanging role of the potato in CentralEurope.

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Maine Potato BlossomFestivalEvery year in July, for the past 60 years,the citizens of Maine – where potato is

the No. 1 crop – havecelebrated theblossoming of the state’spotato plants. The year2008 was no exception:hosted in the town ofFort Fairfield, the festivalfeatured nine days ofsports tournaments,music concerts, mashedpotato wrestling, an

antique tractor show, and a pageant toselect the Potato Blossom Queen.


AUGUSTJULY

ItalyiItaly’s national potatomeetingOne of the key events of theInternational Year of the Potato inItaly was the biennial national potatomeeting held in Budrio, near Bologna.The event included a conference onindustrial use of potatoes, atechnology expo, an exhibition ofvintage potato farming equipment, atractor race and harvesting contest,and a meeting of officials from thecountry’s patata-producing areas.

Canada,iUnited Statesof America

Potato harvest festivalsAugust is potato harvest time in muchof southern Canada and northernUnited States. To celebrate the end ofthe season, many towns threw a partyin honour of Solanum tuberosum.Among them: the 36th annual potatofestival in Alliston (Ontario), PotatoDays in Clark (South Dakota) andBarnesville (Minnesota), and thetraditional potato celebration inManhattan (Montana).

United KingdomiIYP conference in ScotlandScotland’s contribution to the Year ofthe Potato was a major conference onimproving potato production, held inDundee on 8 August. Organized by theScottish Crop Research Institute, theconference was attended by a highlevel delegation from China. Theconference followed the UnitedKingdom‘s largest annual potato fieldevent, “Potatoes in practice”, held inDundee on 7 August.

IndonesiaiNational potato weekin LembangIndonesia is one of Asia’s middle-ranking potato producers, with a 2007harvest of just over 1 million tonnes. Tocelebrate IYP, the IndonesianVegetable Research Institute organizeda National Potato Week held inLembang, western Java, an areafamous for its fruits and vegetables.IVEGRI is a partner of the InternationalPotato Center in programmes for theimprovement of potato and sweetpotato varieties.

HondurasiPotato brunchin TegucigalpaFAO, the Peruvian embassy and adepartment store chain inauguratedIYP in Honduras with two days offestivities, including a potato brunch,in Tegucigalpa. For the occasion, FAOpublished a book of 100 potatorecipes. The inauguration wasfollowed by a seminar on potatoproduction and marketing in the cityof Esperanza, one of the country’smain potato growing areas.

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SEPTEMBER

MauritiusiIYP event promotes potatoproductionOn the Indian Ocean island ofMauritius, the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Fisheries and thecountry’s Sugar Industry ResearchInstitute hosted a potato conferenceand exhibition on 21-22 August. At theconference, the Ministry launched aninteractive CD-ROM on potato forfarmers and extensionists, with a mapof land suitable for growing potatoesand a book of potato recipes.

CanadaiGrowers raise fundsfor women’s shelterThe farmers’ association PotatoGrowers of Alberta (PGA) tookpotatoes to the annual Cornfest inTaber, southern Alberta, Canada, inlate August. Over the space of twodays, the PGA’s potato stand sold$3 000 worth of baked potatoes,mashed potatoes, French fries andpotato chips to raise funds for a localwomen’s crisis shelter. The shelterprovides free food and lodging towomen and children who areattempting to escape from a life ofabuse and poverty.

ChinaiFestival at heart of China’spotato industryThe county of Xiji, in the mountainousNingxia Hui Autonomous Region ofnorthwest China, hosted in Septemberthe country’s biggest annual potatofair. Xiji and surrounding rural countiesare the centre of China’s rapidlyexpanding potato industry, with atotal production of more than 2.5million tonnes a year. The county’s2 000 potato processing companiesship potato products throughout Chinaand to markets in Japan, SouthAmerica and Europe.

PeruiPeru celebrates “breadof the Andes”La papa, pan del mundo Andino – or,“Potato: Bread of the Andean world” –was the title of an exhibition at Lima’sMuseo Nacional de Arqueología,Antropología e Historia that ran until31 December. On display were exhibitson the potato’s pre- and post-Columbian history, its biodiversity,nutritional value and role in Andeanculture, and a series of paintings ofAndean farmers by Japanese artistTadayuki Noguchi (below).

BelarusiArt-bulba exhibitionin MinskBelarus’ State University of Cultureorganized an art exhibitionin the capital, Minsk,dedicated to the bulba.“It must be true artwhen people growplants purely forpleasure,” said theuniversity’s gallerydirector. “Just as theJapanese enjoy watching cherry treesblossom, Belarusians love to plantpotatoes in May and dig them up inSeptember”. Belarusians eat morepotatoes per head than any othercountry – an estimated 180 kg a year.

United Statesof America

57th Posen Potato FestivalPolish immigrants who settled in thetown of Posen, Michigan, in the UnitedStates, brought with them theirnational passion for potatoes, whichgrow well in the area’s deep, sandysoils. For more than 50 years, the endof the harvest season has beencelebrated at the Posen potatofestival, which features free concerts,children’s entertainment, a potatocooking contest and selection of theMiss Posen beauty queen.

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SloveniaiWorld Festival of SautéedPotatoesGourmets from Europe and the UnitedStates attended the 8th World Festival

of Sautéed Potatoes inCrna na Koroškem, innorthern Slovenia. Theannual event bringstogether cooking teamswho pan-fry tons ofpotatoes with a varietyof ingredients, includinggoose liver, ostrich, sourcream and walnuts. The

festival is hosted by a Slovenianassociation dedicated to enjoyment ofthe country's national dish, praženkrompir.

FranceiPotatoEurope 2008Billed as Europe’s “most significantpotato industry convention”,PotatoEurope 2008 was held in Villers-Saint-Christophe, northern France, on10 and 11 September. More than3 000 visitors came to the event, whichfeatured workshops on potato geneticresources, agronomy, soilconservation, crop optimization andsustainability, and demonstrations ofinnovative harvesting and post-

harvest technologies.


SEPTEMBER

ItalyiSagra della patatain TuscanyIn Italy’s rural areas, September is thetime for festivals (or sagre) thatcelebrate the fruits of the agriculturalyear. In potato-growing areas, visitorsand locals get together in villagepiazzas for concerts, antique marketsand sporting events, all accompaniedby tasty potato dishes, such as gnocchi.One of the oldest running potatoharvest festivals has been held since1968 in the town of Oreno, in Tuscany.

GermanyiPotato dumplingscelebrated in ThuringiaThe German state of Thuringia isfamous for its potato dumplings andthe potato dumpling museum whichopened in 1999 in the town ofHeichelheim. In September, theHeichelheimer Potato Foundationhosted the state’s annual potatofestival, where celebrities harvestedtubers, and visitors enjoyed a range ofattractions, including a photographyexhibition, a competition for thelongest potato peel, and lots of potatodumplings.


A potato-shapedhot air balloonThe annual Spokane ValleyFest inWashington, the United States,honoured the potato with a variety ofactivities, including the launching of apotato-shaped hot-air balloon and acommunity “hunger run” to raisemoney for the Spokane Valley FoodBank. This year, the WashingtonPotato Commission donated half atonne of potatoes for sale at thefestival. In 2007, Washington’s potatoharvest was 4.6 million tonnes.

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RwandaiPotato celebratedon World Food DayRwanda’s national IYP committeecelebrated the International Year inconjunction with World Food Day inthe potato-growing district of Nyabihuon 16 October. Rwandans had much tocelebrate: the country is among sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest potatoproducers (1.2 million tonnes in 2007),and potato consumption stands at ahigh 125 kg per capita per year.


Finlandi“Potatoes todayand in the future”Peru’s embassy in Helsinki celebratedIYP by hosting a potato photographyexhibition, a sampling of potato dishesand a lecture on “Potatoes today and inthe future”, which was delivered by JariValkonen, an award winning plantvirologist at Helsinki University. Theevent was co-sponsored by Finland’sMinistry of Agriculture and FAO. In2007, Finland produced 680 000tonnes of potatoes.

SpainiPotato science links Europe,Latin AmericaThe 3rd Spanish-American Congress onPotato Research and Development washeld in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, inOctober. The congress, which aimed atforging closer ties between the potatosectors in Latin America and Europe,addressed recent developments ingenetic improvement, geneticengineering, micropropagation of seedpotatoes, industrial processing andquality marketing. The congress washeld as part of “Potato week”.


Living with potatoesTo raise awareness of the importanceof the potato for world food security,the College of Agricultural Science andTechnology at California StateUniversity, Fresno, hosted aninternational symposium on “Livingwith potatoes” on 7 October. The eventprovided a global forum for potatogrowers, researchers, processors andequipment suppliers who areinterested in promoting sustainablepotato production.

OCTOBER

UkraineiThe latest on potato pestsand diseasesThe European and MediterraneanPlant Protection Organization (EPPO)and Ukraine’s plant quarantine serviceorganized a European phytosanitaryconference on potato and other arablecrops in Chernovtsy in October. Themeeting reviewed the latest EPPOstandards for potato, and discussedmajor pest and disease threats,including wart disease and cystnematodes. It also examinedemerging pests of the Solanaceaefamily of plants.

AustraliaiIrish potato faminerememberedDuring the Irish “potato famine” of1845-1850, more than 4 000 femaleorphans were shipped to Britishcolonies in Australia to work asservants. To commemorate the 160thanniversary of their arrival, an Irish-Australian historical society hosted aweek-long event in Galong, nearCanberra, entitled “Far from famine”.The programme included workshops,Irish music and dancing, a treeplanting ceremony and acommemoration service.

United KingdomiSausage and mashPeople in Lincolnshire, in the east ofEngland, are so proud of theirdistinctive “Lincolnshiresausage” that they areseeking to register the nameto protect it from imitations.And since the sausages areusually served with mashedpotatoes – and Lincolnshireis one of the UnitedKingdom‘s biggest potato producers –the organizers decided to celebrateboth foods together, at theLincolnshire Sausage and MashFestival on 25 October.

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TurkeyiHarvest day in AnatoliaWith its hot, dry summers and coldwinters, Anatolia’s central plateau is

Turkey’s most importantpotato producing region. It isalso the site of the country’sNational Potato ResearchInstitute, at Niğde, which isresponsible for potatobreeding, producing virus-free seed potatoes,conducting research projectsand training potato farmers.In October, while the region’s

potatoes were being harvested, theinstitute held a field day in honour ofthe International Year.

Democratic Republicof Congo

Big day in Mbanza-NgunguIYP in the Democratic Republic ofCongo culminated on 29 October witha potato festival organized by theMinistry of Agriculture and FAO inMbanza-Ngungu, in the province ofBas-Congo, from where potato farmerssupply markets in Kinshasa. During2008, the national IYP committeepublicized the International Year withTV spots and radio programmes, andmade a video on potato cultivation.


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NOVEMBER

PeruiPotato food festivalby Lake TiticacaThe city of Puno sits by the side of LakeTiticaca in Peru, at the centre of originof the cultivated potato. To celebratethe International Year, Puno’sRegional Agricultural Departmentsponsored in November a food festivalat which special guests of honour werethe potato and tunta, a dehydratedpotato product. Activities included acontest among the city’s restaurantsfor the best potato dish.

ArgentinaiLatin American potatocongressThe Latin American PotatoAssociation, which links producers,researchers, extensionists andprocessors, held its 23rd annualcongress in Mar del Plata City from 30November to 5 December. Sponsoredby Argentina’s National AgriculturalTechnology Institute, the congressaimed at disseminating researchresults and technological innovationsand fostering ties between private andpublic sectors in the region.

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New ZealandiThe story continues...The biennial World Potato Congresswill be held in Christchurch, NewZealand, in March 2009. With thetheme “Nourishing our future”, thefour-day congress will review thelatest developments in cropmanagement, environment andenergy issues, food and non-foodprocessing, and food safety andquality. More than 500 delegates,representing the potato industry inboth developed and developingcountries, are expected to attend.

ItalyiPotato on displayat FAO, RomeAs lead agency for observation of IYP,the Food and Agriculture Organizationended the International Year with apotato exhibition in its glass-domedatrium. The exhibition consisted ofthree separate displays: one, in Italian“The magic voyage of the potato”,provided by Italy’s Fruili Venezia Giuliaregion, CIP’s travelling exhibition“Odyssey of the potato”, the winningentries in the IYP World PhotographyContest, and paintings of Andeanfarmers by Tadayuki Noguchi.

BelgiumiPrizes for potato qualityWinners of the Belgian Potato QualityAward received their prizes atBelgium’s Interpom trade fair inKortrijk in December. The awards aregiven each year to potato farmers andprocessors who have improved thepublic image of agriculture in generaland of potatoes in particular. Interpomalso featured exhibits covering theentire production chain, from cropprotection to processing.

IndiaiGlobal conference marksend of IYP 2008The task facing potato scientists is toenhance productivity, quality andadded value at a time of diminishingavailability of land and water, newbiotic and abiotic stresses, and fastchanging consumer preferences. Thosechallenges were to be addressed at aGlobal Potato Conference organized inNew Delhi by the Indian PotatoAssociation, India’s Central PotatoResearch Institute and the IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research.

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A major event of the International Year was itsWorld Photography Contest, Focus on a global food,

sponsored by FAO and Nikon Europe.Entries were received from 90 countries

around the world

Focuson a global food

1st prize, Professional category:Eitan Abramovich, Peru

from the photo essay, “Harvest of native potatoes”

2nd prize, Professional category:Pablo Balbontin, Spain

from the photo essay, “The custodians of biodiversity”

3rd prize, Professional category:Viktor Drachev, Belarus

from the photo essay, “Belarus soldiers eat potatoes”

1st prize, Amateur category:Xi Huang, China

from an untitled photo essay

2nd prize, Amateur category:Dick Gerstmeijer, the Netherlands

“Digging up potatoes”

3rd prize, Amateur category:Marlene Singh, the Philippines

“Bamboo boat”

World Photography ContestSelection panel

NeBambi Lutaladio IYP Executive Secretary (Chairman)Manuel Antonio Alvarez Espinal Permanent Representative of Peru to FAOLucy Conticello Photo editorAdrian Evans Director, Panos PicturesSteve McCurry Photographer (Magnum Photos)Andrea Sonnino Senior Agricultural Research Officer, FAOMaria Wood Picture Editor, “Time”, Asia editionFrancesco Zizola Photographer (Noorimages)

Perspectives

For many of those who work daily with the potato, it has become a passionate way of life.

During the International Year, we gathered viewpoints from “potato people” around the globe...

Collecting the harvestin Munshiganj, Bangladesh

113PERSPECTIVES

50 percent in China in the past 10 years. Since2005, more potatoes are being harvested inthe developing world than in theindustrialized world, and the area planted isshowing the same trend.”

How can potato science take best advantageof those trends?“Potato science can be a significant vehicle

for targeting the poor and hungry. At CIP, wehave adopted a pro-poor research anddevelopment cycle, which starts by identifyingareas where rates of poverty, hunger andmaternal and child mortality are high. Thenwe overlay that data with our maps of potatoproduction zones to see where our researchcan have the greatest impact. We also try tounderstand the larger sustainable livelihoodsframework: what assets vulnerablecommunities have, what shocks they arevulnerable to, the institutional arrangementsthat determine their constraints andopportunities.”

What are the priority geographic areas for potato research today?“We need to address three developing

worlds: agriculture-based countries,transforming countries and urbanizedcountries. The agriculture-based countries areprimarily in Africa and the challenge there isto boost productivity. World average potatoproduction is around 15 tonnes per hectare,

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Potato science for the poor

Pamela Anderson is Director General of theInternational Potato Center (CIP) in Peru.In March, CIP co-sponsored one of theflagship events of the International Year – a working conference in Cusco to developa new research agenda for potato in the developing world.

You say the potato can make a greatcontribution to achieving the UN’sMillennium Development Goals. Why?“First, because of the potato’s importance

for food security. Potatoes are the third mostimportant food security crop in the world. Inthe developing world, there’s been stronggrowth in potato production across all regionssince 1990, especially in the low-income food-deficit countries. In Africa, the areaunder potatoes grew by 120% between 1994and 2004, and we’ve seen growth of almost

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114InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure compared to 35 to 40 tonnes in Europe and

North America. To increase productivity,research needs to provide breakthroughs inovercoming intractable problems, such aslack of clean seed potato, diseases such as lateblight and viruses, and storage problems. The transforming countries are primarily inAsia, where increases in agriculturalproductivity have driven poverty reduction in countries like India and China. But even inChina, we have a poverty belt of 23 millionpeople, most of them in potato-producingcounties, which is why China has namedpotatoes specifically as one of their vehiclesout of poverty. India has also declared itsintention to double potato output in the next5 to 10 years, focusing on the poverty belt inthe country’s northeast.”

What about the third “developing world”, the urbanized countries...“A good example is our host country, Peru.

Here we have 50 poverty pockets where morethan 90% of the population lives in extremepoverty, and 35 of those areas are potatoproducers. Potato output here has almostdoubled in the last 30 years, so the challengeis to find ways to convert increasedproductivity into income. With the SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation, CIPhas started an initiative called Papa Andinawhich uses innovative ways to connect smallscale potato growers to urban markets, bothdomestic and international. That involvesdeveloping new products based on nativepotatoes, market information systems,integrated pest management and improvedpost-harvest management. Papa Andina has

been highly successful; one of its products isthe T’ikapapa brand of native potatoes, whichlinks the poor producers in the highlands tothe urban market in Lima. In 2007, theT’ikapapa concept won the BBC-Newsweek-Shell World Challenge Award and a 2007United Nations SEED [SupportingEntrepreneurs for Environment andDevelopment] award. We are now looking at how to scale-out the approach to Africa and Asia.”

More than 100 of the world’s leading potatoscientists attended the Cusco conference.What did it achieve and what happens next?“Our aim was to share their insights and

the results of the latest research in thedevelopment of new strategies and approachesthat are needed in each of those developingworlds. We have published a website on theconference, and will continue to share theoutcomes with the international potatoscience community during the otherinternational conferences being heldthroughout the International Year of the Potato. We’re calling this the ‘CuscoChallenge’ – the challenge to formulate a research agenda that puts potato science at the service of the poor in order to make a more significant impact on povertyand hunger.”

complex hybrid or multiple independentorigins from what is known as the Solanumbrevicaule complex, a group of 20morphologically very similar, tuber-bearingwild taxa, broadly distributed from centralPeru to northern Argentina. Now, as part of astudy of the taxonomy of that complex, I anda group of scientists from the Scottish CropResearch Institute were analysing accessionsof potato landraces when we made asurprising discovery. At the molecular level,the accessions all group together, not inseparate places on a ‘phylogenetic tree’ withdifferent wild species, as would be expectedwith many separate origins. Based on ourinitial results with these cultivated species, webroadened the study to analyse DNA markersin 261 wild and 98 cultivated potato varieties,and our data indicated that those earlycultivars originated from a single ancestralline in the ‘northern’ component of theS. brevicaule complex in central orsouthern Peru.”

And how important is that finding? “For Peru, of course, it was great news, and

a source of national pride. But that aside, thepurpose of taxonomy is to help determinewhat is a species and to classify species intorelated groups, providing other scientists witha roadmap to guide them down properresearch paths. If the taxonomy is bad,research goes awry. In fact, another of our

David Spooner is a taxonomist at the UnitedStates Department of Agriculture (USDA)who collects wild and cultivated potatoesand studies their species boundaries andrelationships. His recent discoveries havehelped re-write much of what we thought weknew about the origin and evolution of thecultivated potato.

In 2005, you co-authored a paper thatoverturned previous ideas about theevolutionary history of the potato. Whatwere your findings?“What we demonstrated was that the

cultivated potato has a single place of origin,in Peru. Up until then, all publications hadhypothesized that the early Andean andChilean cultivated forms of potato had evolvedfrom different progenitors. For the potato, thedomestication hypotheses had suggested

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Roadmaps to the origins of the potato

115PERSPECTIVES

that the potatoes introduced into Europe wereChilean landraces, while British investigatorsthought they came from the Andes but werekilled off in the late blight epidemics of the1840s, and replaced by introductions fromChile. My student Mercedes Ames and Iaddressed this question by examining 49European herbarium specimens collectedbetween 1700 and 1910, for a DNA markerthat distinguishes Andean from Chileanlandraces. The results showed that, yes, theAndean potato predominated in Europe in the1700s and persisted until 1892 – long afterthe late blight epidemics – while the Chileanpotato first appeared in Europe in 1811 andbecame predominant long before the lateblight epidemics.”

This may be an unusual question. Havingcollected potato throughout the Americasevery year since 1989, have you formed a “spiritual connection” with the plant? “I’m not driven primarily by potatoes.

I am directed by USDA to work on the potato,but my real motivation is the intellectualexercise of finding answers to the complextaxonomic and biological questions posed bythe potato. What makes this job so fascinatingfor me is the great infrastructure that isavailable for potato research and whichmakes those answers possible.”

findings was that what were consideredmember ‘species’ of the S. brevicaulenorthern group were poorly defined, and that further studies might reduce them to a single species.”

Another of your recent papers has brokennew ground by reclassifying the cultivatedpotato into four species. “That was from a study done with the

International Potato Center [CIP] in Peru.We carried out one of the largest molecularmarker studies ever done on crop landraces,covering 742 landraces of all cultivated potatospecies and eight closely related wild speciesprogenitors. Until that paper, there were manydifferent ideas about the number of cultivatedpotato species – the widely used classificationof [British plant geneticist] J.G Hawkesidentified seven species and seven subspecies,while Russian taxonomists recognized asmany as 21 species. But, in combination withthe findings of earlier morphological analysesdone with CIP, our analysis found just four:Solanum tuberosum, divided into Andeanand Chilean cultivar groups, and three hybridcultivated species of ‘bitter potato’. We alsofound that consistent and stable identificationof the other purported ‘species’ wasimpossible, and only created confusion.”

Now, to your third recent discovery,published in 2008, about the introduction of Chilean germplasm in the modern potato.What was at issue there? “All modern potato cultivars have

predominantly Chilean germplasm. Toexplain that, Russian investigators proposed

116InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure

In a long career, John Reader hasphotographed Rolling Stones’ recordingsessions in London and australopithecinefootprints in Tanzania, and writtenacclaimed works such as Man on earthand Africa – biography of the continent.His new book is Propitious esculent: the potato in world history.

How did people react when they heard yournext book was about potato?“The potato is the best bundle of nutrition

known, but it’s not easy to persuade people totake it seriously. As a topic of conversation, itinevitably evokes some degree of mirth – or acondescending smirk from those who considerthe topic not just amusing, but foolish too.People simply do not believe such acommonplace commodity deserves seriousattention.”

When did you first take an interest in Solanum tuberosum?“To be fair, I didn’t take the potato seriously

either until I lived in the far west of Ireland for18 months in the 1960s. There, the potato wasubiquitous – in books I read (especially CecilWoodham-Smith’s The great hunger), ingardens and heaped on the plates at mealtimes. But even then I looked upon it mostly asan item that soaked up the gravy and filled thebellies of people who couldn’t always affordanything better. It was only 20 years later thatI began to appreciate the potato’s true worth.Awareness of environmental issues waswidespread by then. Science had long sincedemonstrated that people, society and cultureare integral elements of the planet’s ecologicalwebs, and now some fascinating examples ofhuman ecology were trickling through to a layaudience. I, for one, was impressed by theecological explanations of Marvin Harris [inCows, pigs, wars and witches, 1974] for such –apparently – irrational cultural practices asIndia’s sacred cow and the Jews’ avoidance ofpork. My interest developed into a book [Manon earth, 1988], for which the academicliterature provided many examples fromaround the world of how an environment andthe staple foods it provides can influencehuman affairs.”

117PERSPECTIVES

Historyi

How the potato changed the world

118InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure In Man on earth you devoted a chapter

to “the potato growers”...“In particular, the work of Stephen Brush

[Professor, Faculty of Agricultural andEnvironmental Science, University ofCalifornia, Davis] on the economy andhuman ecology of an Andean valleyintroduced me to a fuller appreciation of thepotato’s merits. He and other scientists showedhow astutely Andean farmers had adapted theinherent variability of the potato to their ownends, developing patterns of land-use andcultivation that not only created a sustainableway of life for themselves but also ensured thecontinued survival of the potato’s extensivegene pool. Popular interest in the preservationof genetic diversity was growing at the time, sothe potato fitted well into the theme of Manon earth. But I was struck too by theeconomic role the potato has played as peoplehave moved from closed self-sustainingfarming communities to societies for whomtrade and economic activity have been theprincipal means of sustenance. That wasworth a book in itself.”

So, briefly, what has been the impact of the potato on world history?“The potato played a crucial role in the

development of a succession of imperial statesin its cradle land – the Andes – but itsinfluence has been most dramaticallyillustrated in Europe, following itsintroduction by the Spanish in the late 16thcentury. Nothing like this had happenedbefore – anywhere. After depending upongrain for thousands of years, Europe now hada supplementary crop that not only flourished

in a wider range of soil and climaticconditions but also produced four times morecarbohydrate per unit of land and labour.Wherever the potato was adopted, populationsgrew rapidly, which in turn supplied a largeand cheaply nourished labour force just at thetime when trade and industry were replacingagriculture as the dominant feature ofEuropean economies. Thus the potato fuelledthe Industrial Revolution, and from Europehas spread around the world – staving offhunger, improving nutrition and fuelling thedevelopment of economies.”

And how do you see the role of the potatoin the world today?“Today, the potato is grown in more

countries than any crop except maize, and isincreasingly consumed in a processed form asmore and more people take to living in cities.Already, more than half the global populationare city-dwellers – their higher incomes andimproved standards of living have generated ataste for something more than the simpleboiled potato. Of course, industrial processingfavours large-scale production, but that in noway detracts from the advantages the potatooffers small farmers in the developing world.They will always take the potato seriously.”

119PERSPECTIVES

Lino Mamani is a papa arariwa (“potatoguardian”, in Quechua) in the Sacacafarming community near Pisac, in thePeruvian Andes. The community whereMamani lives, together with fiveneighbouring communities, haveestablished a 12 000 ha “potato park”where they cultivate and conserve Andeanpotato varieties.

How did the potato park come intoexistence?“Our communities signed an agreement in

December 2004 with the International PotatoCenter [CIP], to establish the park and towork together to preserve our potatobiodiversity. This area has about 600 nativevarieties that we have always grown here. CIPhas also repatriated to us hundreds of varietiesfrom its collection, and with the help of our

Pacha Mama [Mother Earth] we are adaptingthem to live here.”

How many varieties are you now cultivating?“We have about 1 000 varieties of native

potatoes here. We have planted the repatriatedvarieties in different parts of the mountains,where they are learning how to adaptthemselves, how to live in the places where wehave put them. We know that some like it alittle bit colder and some a little bit warmer.Pacha Mama knows how to nurture them.With a larger number of varieties we makePacha Mama happy, so she will allow us tohave bigger harvests and provide food for ourfamilies.”

Do you grow any modern varieties?“We don’t like modern potatoes – we have

had bad experiences in the past because theyneed chemicals and pesticides, which poisonthe earth, and they don’t grow well on ourland. Our native varieties live well with theirwild relatives, which you will find all aroundhere. They have a good relationship, like afamily. But our potatoes don’t live well withmodern varieties. The potatoes you see herebelong to us. They came to us from ourancestors and will go on with our children.”

How do the communities work together?“If we succeed in adapting a variety to our

area, we share it with the other communities.

Biodiversityi

A view from the Andes

120InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure All of the communities in the park work

together like one person. But we areconcerned about our legal status. We want thenational government to recognize the potatopark and the work that we do, so that the parkwill continue to be managed by and for thecommunities. We have asked the RegionalGovernment of Cusco to create a biodiversityfund that will protect the traditional life of thecommunities and provide legal status for thepotato park.”

Have you seen the effects of climate changein this valley?“In the old days, the rain came at the right

time, the land was very fertile, and the sunused to shine in the right amount. Now we seethat the sun is hotter, the rains do not come at

the right time, we have hailstorms andfreezing temperatures, and droughts like wehave never seen before. There is also anincrease in insect pests and diseases. Thepotato varieties that our grandfathers grewdown by the river are now moving higher upthe mountain slopes. In this land, we haveour apu [sacred mountains] around us,which help our potatoes and the other cropsand animals to grow. Once there was snow onthose mountains, now they look sad, becausethe climate is getting warmer and there is nomore snow. Other species and animals aresuffering – the condor, foxes, deer, ducks andfish that have always lived with us and arevery dear to us. We know that Pacha Mama isnot happy with all these changes and we haveto work together to make her happy again.”

121PERSPECTIVES

Marco Bindi, of the Department ofAgronomy and Land Management at theUniversity of Florence, Italy, hasparticipated in EU-funded projects on theimpact of climate change on natural andagricultural ecosystems, and is a leadauthor of the Fourth Assessment Report,Climate Change 2007, of theIntergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC).

How does the build-up of atmosphericgreenhouse gases affect potato production?“In C3 plants, such as potato, an increase

in atmospheric concentrations of carbondioxide leads to a higher rate ofphotosynthesis. Currently, the level of CO2 isabout 385 parts per million [ppm], and thelatest IPCC emission scenarios project levelsby the year 2100 ranging from 540 to 970

ppm. Experiments on potatoes have shownthat increasing CO2 concentrations has littleeffect on the production of biomass aboveground, but the below-ground biomass issignificantly enhanced through highernumbers of tubers and bigger tuber size. Theyield increases by about 10 percent for everyextra 100 ppm. As for the effects of increasinglevels of ozone, experiments indicate anoverall reduction of photosynthetic efficiencyand a significant decrease in tuber starchcontent, but an increase in the ascorbic acidconcentration.”

What effect will global warming have on the potato?“This century could see a rise in average

global surface temperature of from 1.8° to4°C. Since potato’s tuberization rate declinesabove a temperature of 17°C, increasingtemperatures may lead to reduced yields inpotato varieties now cultivated close to theupper climatic limits of the crop that wouldnot be recovered by higher levels of carbondioxide. On the other hand, a simulationstudy has shown that in northern Europeancountries, a warmer climate would bring alonger growing season and big increases inyields. Areas that are now too cold for potato –for example, parts of Canada, Siberia andScandinavia – may become viable, as wouldhighland areas such as the altopiano in Peruand Bolivia. But the global picture is

Climate changei

Who gains, who loses

122InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure worrying: worldwide research shows that,

without adaptation, higher temperaturesreduce yield by 10 to 19 percent in 2010-2039and 18 to 32 percent in 2040-2069. The mostvulnerable area is the tropical belt, where theloss could be more than 50 percent.”

Potato is highly sensitive to water stresses.How will climate change affect wateravailability?“The change in temperature will be

uniform, but not that of rainfall. There will bean increase in rainfall in mid- to highlatitudes – areas with no water shortages –and problems instead for the Mediterraneanand subtropical zones, where we will seerainfall on fewer days but with greaterintensity. A crop growth simulationexperiment on an EU scale reported that,under the present climate change scenario,yields under rain-fed conditions were stronglyaffected by water shortages, with reductions ofup to 50 percent. In arid regions, wheredrought is expected to become more frequentand more intense, there will clearly be a dropin productivity.”

Could climate change also lead to an increasein potato pests and diseases? “Given the thermal limit for late blight

– 22°C – increases above that temperaturethreshold in Europe may prevent infections. Atthe present northern limit of potatocultivation in the USA, Canada and centralRussia, late blight could increase significantlyas the temperature increases, but at the sametime, warming further north may open upnew zones for potato production, with

minimal late blight risk. An increase in thequantity and frequency of rainfall would alsocreate conditions more favourable to viraldisease vectors. Other researchers havepredicted an increase in the Colorado potatobeetle’s area of diffusion in Europe, as well asin the area infested by potato cyst nematode.”

How can potato cultivation adapt to climate change?“Anticipating the planting date, using

different potato varieties and improving soilwater supply, especially in dry regions, mightbe useful. According to one study, thosestrategies could cut by half the expecteddecrease in global yields. In southern Europe,earlier planting increases potato yields andreduces water requirements in both presentand future climate scenarios. But in practice,adaptation options may be not so simple. Theplanting season also depends on factors suchas the preceding crop, water availability, pestsand diseases, and markets. Cultivars betteradapted to a changed climate exist, but maynot be available to farmers in some regions.Another strategy is shifting potato productiontowards areas of higher productivity or areaswhere there is currently no potato production.In some tropical highland regions, cultivationcould expand into higher altitudes. At highlatitudes, there could be considerablepotential for expansion of the potato area.”

123PERSPECTIVES

Christian Bachem, of the Department ofPlant Sciences, Wageningen UR, theNetherlands, is coordinator of the PotatoGenome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC),an international research network thataims at revealing the potato’s complete set ofDNA by the end of 2010.

Why is it so important to sequence the potato genome?“Cultivated potato is what we call a highly

heterozygous, self-incompatible outbreeder – inpractice this makes it impossible to producetrue breeding lines and so genetic improvementis a complex and lengthy process. We estimatethat well over 40 000 genes are encoded by thegenome. The problem is these genes are notconveniently located in clusters. By unravellingthe complete DNA sequence, we aim atlocalizing and identifying the genes coding for

important traits such as disease resistance, butalso for nutritional attributes, such as starchquality, protein and vitamin content. Genomicsequencing will deliver molecular markers thatbreeders can use to increase the efficiency andrapidity of their breeding programmes. In thelonger term, the full genome sequence willform the basis for understanding the biologicalprocesses underlying complex traits such asyield and quality.”

What do we already know about the potatogenome?“The potato has 12 chromosomes, each

one about 70 million base pairs long, whichmakes it about a quarter the size of thehuman genome. We estimate the size of thecomplete sequence at 840 Mbp [Mega base-pairs], which means 840 million nucleotidesthat line up in a particular order to form thepotato’s chromosomes.”

How is the Potato Genome SequencingConsortium organized?“The consortium consists of nationally

supported scientific research institutes inArgentina, Brazil, China, Chile, India,Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland,Peru, Russia, the UK and the United States.Each national partner will sequence at least athird of a chromosome, and eachchromosome has been assigned to one ormore countries.”

Geneticsi

Unravelling the potato genome

124InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure What is your approach to sequencing

the potato genome?“Mapping the DNA code of over 800 million

base pairs is a huge technical and bio-informatic challenge. At Wageningen’sLaboratory of Plant Breeding we are using anovel approach for mapping and aligning alibrary of large chunks of potato genomic DNAcalled “bacterial artificial chromosomes”, orBACs, which are small, manageable parts of theentire genome, averaging 120 000 nucleotides.The technique involves first creating an ultra-high density genetic map of the potato genomeusing molecular DNA markers. The DNAmarkers with a known genetic location canthen be used to identify groups of overlappingBACs to form a physical map.”

What is the current status of the PGSCproject?“We are currently assembling the Potato

BAC library into a physically and geneticallyanchored map, which will allow thesequencing of relevant chromosome sectionsby consortium partners. Most of the partnershave been able to raise funding forsequencing the chromosomes assigned tothem and, in most cases, have establishedsequencing facilities. One important initiativethe PGSC is pursuing is a collaborativetraining scheme with countries that haveidentified specific gaps in their know-how.Through this collaboration, junior scientistswill visit our facilities for training, forexample, in bioinformatics. Thesearrangements have been made with Chinaand Brazil and discussions are underway withother consortium members.”

How much will the entire project cost?“Sequencing of the human genome was

achieved in 2003 at a total cost of about $800million. Since then, the cost of sequencinghas been very much reduced. The total cost ofsequencing the potato genome would be, weestimate, around €25 million. An equalamount is probably needed for closing gapsand for the bioinformatics needed forassembly and annotation. A worldwide effortof around €50 million is therefore likely to beneeded.”

What is the PGSC policy on sharinggenome data?“We have an open information policy. All

data is intended to be freely shared betweenthe consortium partners and the scientificcommunity at large. The data of the potatogenome sequence is shared within theconsortium for six months for quality control,after which it is being released as nucleotideflat files in the public domain.”

125PERSPECTIVES

McCain Foods Ltd is the world’s largestproducer of frozen potato products, mainlyFrench fries destined for restaurants, fast food and retail chains around theglobe. Bertrand Delannoy, who joined the company in 1989 as an agronomist, is now Director of Public Affairs andSustainability for McCain ContinentalEurope.

Among private sector companies, McCain has been the strongest donor to theInternational Year. Why did McCain decide to back IYP?“McCain has been in the potato business

now for more than half a century, startingfrom a small factory in Florenceville, NewBrunswick, and expanding since then, first toNorth America, Europe, and Australasia, andsince the mid-1990s to Latin America, South

Africa and Asia. Today we operate in 130countries and have 57 production sites on fivecontinents. But for us the potato is more thansimply business. We share the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals, and we saw IYP as anopportunity to help educate the world aboutthe nutritional value of potatoes and aboutkey issues in fighting hunger and poverty –sustainability, delivering nutritious andaffordable food, strengthening farmingcapabilities in developing countries, andcollaboration in development of new varieties.McCain has a global presence that can reachthe world’s hungry, with knowledge andexpertise we can share.”

McCain provided funding for the activities of IYP national committees in 14 developingcountries. What do you hope your supportwill achieve?“The committees aim at bringing together

the entire community of stakeholders –farmers, public and private sectors, NGOs,civil society and scientific institutions – inpromoting the potato, increasing potatoproduction and adding value. They arecatalysts for national potato developmentprogrammes in the future. We are proud thatthe support McCain provided has gone intoIYP information campaigns in Turkey, SouthAfrica and Rwanda, the preparation of apotato development strategy in Côte d’Ivoireand a study of potato trends in China, and

Private sectori

“Knowledge and expertise we can share”

126InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure Peru’s first national potato congress. In the

Democratic Republic of Congo, the nationalcommittee is now working with an ongoingpartnership McCain has built up with localinstitutions in Kinshasa to promote goodpractices in peri-urban potato farming. Wehope to see the benefits of that collaborationin the years ahead.”

Potato production and consumption isexpanding strongly in the developing world.What is McCain’s strategy for entering thoseemerging markets?“McCain is expanding its business in the

developing world. Our strategy is, first, toassess the local potato platform – factors suchas farming practices and upstream logistics,including storage. It is also important to us tocreate a direct, long-term ‘win-win’relationship with our growers. Sometimes weacquire existing processing plants, such as inSouth Africa, or we develop ‘green sites’, fromscratch, as we did in Argentina. When westarted in Argentina, farmers were stillharvesting by hand. We introduced modernproduction techniques and since then we haveseen double-digit growth, thanks largely toexports to the big Brazilian market. In India,we recently opened a new processing plant inGujarat State that draws on a network ofcontract farmers whom we train in improvedpractices, such as drip irrigation, which cutsgrowing costs, and high temperature potatostorage, which means big savings in power. InChina, we are in a learning process, with thehuge opportunity of growing, processing anddistributing our products in what promises tobe the world‘s biggest market.”

Your core business is potatoes. How do yourespond to criticism that potatoes,particularly as French fries, are responsiblefor overweight and poor nutrition?“Potatoes are among the most efficient

sources of energy and nutrients, with a highercontent of Vitamins A and C and othermicronutrients when compared to rice ormaize tortillas. It also has some of the highestlevels of potassium, which has very positivebenefits for heart health. So it is an essentialpart of a healthy diet. But at McCain we arecommitted to continually improving thenutritional profile of our products to meetconsumer needs and concerns. For example,we changed all of our cooking oils worldwideto virtually eliminate trans fat and reducedour overall saturated fats to levels well belowWHO guidelines. In mature markets, such asEurope, we are developing non-friedsolutions, with significant diversificationtoward oven and pan products. In SouthAfrica, where logistics can be a problem, wealso aim at producing and distributing driedpotato product solutions, enriched withmacro- and micronutrients, which arecheaper to distribute and also contribute to anaffordable and nutritious meal for low-income consumers.”

127PERSPECTIVES

As the roots-and-tubers specialist at the Foodand Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations in Rome, NeBambi Lutaladio foundhimself with an additional task in 2008:that of coordinating the implementationof the International Year of the Potato.

The announcement of the International Yearwas met with scepticism. Do you thinkpeople are starting to see the point now?“Some people were surprised to see the UN

dedicating a whole year to something ascommon as potatoes. But we saw it as a greatopportunity to raise global awareness of thepotato’s true value for rural people, for theeconomy and for world food security, and alsoto focus attention on FAO’s overall mandate,which is agricultural development. Themomentum is really building now. That ispartly thanks to our information campaign

and to the positive response of governmentsand the private potato sector. Also, with worldfood prices rising, the potato is attracting a lotof attention as an alternative food crop.“

The slogan of IYP is “hidden treasure”. In what way has it been “hidden”?“Many people were simply unaware that

the potato feeds the world – it is our mostimportant non-cereal food, and its productionhas been increasing in developing countriesfaster than that of any other major crop. Itsrole in nutrition is also often under-valued,and in developed countries the potato is oftenassociated with weight problems. So, one ofthe objectives of IYP is to teach people thatpotatoes have positive nutritional benefits,that they are rich in fibre, vitamin C andpotassium, and have good quality protein.Finally, the potato also has great ‘hiddenpotential’ for productivity increases – somepotato scientists say a 30 percent increase inyields is now within reach.”

IYP maintains that potato production can help achieve UN MillenniumDevelopment Goal No. 1, to reduce povertyand hunger. How?“The potato is very well suited to places

where land is limited and labour abundant.They grow fast, they are adaptable, highyielding and responsive to low inputs.Farmers in highland areas of Africa can

The International Yeari

New light on a hidden treasure

How are countries around the worldcelebrating IYP?“Naturally, we’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm

in the Andean countries of South America,with national potato days, potato growers’congresses, festivals of biodiversity, cookingcontests. Elsewhere, we have a nation-widecampaign to promote potato consumption inBangladesh, scientific conferences on potatoproduction, poverty alleviation and lateblight, and potato harvest festivals in ruralareas and towns across North America andEurope. Ordinary people are organizing artexhibitions, block parties, and school events.We have limited funds to support these events,but we are providing seed funding fornational IYP committees in 20 countries ofAfrica, Asia and Latin America to supportawareness campaigns.”

You mentioned food price inflation.Can potato really help lower food prices?“That is something FAO is studying very

closely now. International prices of mostagricultural commodities – not just forcereals, but for vegetable oils, soybean anddairy products – are at very high or evenrecord levels. One of the longer term strategiesthat can help ease the strain of food priceinflation is to diversify the crop base tonutritious and versatile staples such as thepotato. Unlike major cereals, the potato is nota globally traded commodity – its prices aredetermined usually by local supply anddemand, so it escapes the kind of speculationwe are seeing with cereals.”

harvest 25 tonnes of tubers from one hectarein just 90 days, which is why potatoproduction is booming in countries likeUganda. When you add value to productionlike that, through better storage andprocessing, you not only meet food needs, buthave a highly profitable cash crop that candrive economic development and sustainlivelihoods.”

Potato yields in the developing world are a third of those achieved in some developedcountries. What needs to be done?“To increase productivity, IYP is promoting

a shift in developing countries to potato-basedfarming systems that use quality and reliableseed potato, varieties that are virus-free anddrought resistant, improved plant nutritionand integrated pest management. Buttechnology improvements need to beaccompanied by other, more generalmeasures for agricultural development, suchas improved farmer access to extension, creditand production inputs, better post-harvestmanagement and links to agro-processingand markets.”


129PERSPECTIVES

What’s so special about sautéed potatoes,Slovenian style?“They are delicious. First you cook the

potatoes in simmering water, very slowly, forup to 40 minutes. After they’re cooked, youwash them in cold water for a minute andpeel them. Then you pan fry the onions in alittle pork fat or olive oil, also very slowly, forabout 15 minutes at low temperature, untilthey practically disappear. Then you add thepotatoes cut into thin slices and stir foranother 20 minutes. That’s the basic recipe.You can add mushrooms, vegetables orprosciutto. It’s a full meal – in fact, oursociety’s full name is ‘Slovenian Society forthe Recognition of Pražen Krompir as anIndependent Dish’.”

But that’s nearly 90 minutes of preparationtime...“And that’s the beauty of pražen krompir!

One of the basic rules of our association isthat members should get together to prepare ameal of sautéed potato and onions at leastonce a month. In 90 minutes, over a frypan,you rediscover the importance of sharing timewith your friends and enjoying a mealtogether, two things that are being lost in ourfast food culture. The other rule is that no oneshould talk politics – in front of a potato, weare all equal.”

Stanislav Menard is a businessman whosepaper factory in Slovenia churns out 3.5billion envelopes a year. But away from hishigh-speed machinery, he has a specialinterest: he’s president of the SlovenianSociety for Sautéed Potato and Onions...

When we first heard about your association,we thought it was a joke...“Yes, it did start as a joke. Our society was

founded in 2000 by five professional people in[Slovenia’s capital] Ljubljana, who all enjoyeating our national dish, pražen krompir,which means sautéed potato. But over theyears it has grown into an association of morethan 2 000 people in more than 20 countries,and in September we expect 15 000 people tocome to our 8th World Festival of SautéedPotatoes.”

Culturei

“In front of a potato, we are all equal”

130InternationalYear of the Potato 2008New light on a hiddentreasure Is any particular variety best for pražen

krompir?“Each year we plant 20 to 25 different

varieties of potato in our field in Ljubljanaand in September we harvest them for testing.It’s a big event, with 20 members serving asjudges. Each variety is prepared in exactly thesame way and we have strict judging criteria.What we are looking for is a potato with acreamy, buttery taste, one that melts in yourmouth. Each year a different variety wins, butsome members are particularly fond of ourSlovenian traditional variety, the Igor, whileothers prefer the Royal Jersey. As anassociation we organize trips to potatogrowing areas of other countries to sampletheir potatoes as well. Our members have beento Jersey, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Polandand even to Peru in 2006.”

So Slovenia has had a long love affair withthe potato?“Actually, we were one of the last countries

in Europe to adopt it, and then only by force.Agriculturally, Slovenia in the 18th centurywas a poor country, and famines werefrequent. After a series of famines in the mid-1700s, Maria Theresa, the archduchess ofAustria, decreed that our farmers should startgrowing potatoes. It was the beginning of anew era. Slovenia is a mountainous countryand ideal for potato. Suddenly farmers had areliable food supply, and feed for farmanimals. There is one town, Šencur, thatbecame such an important exporter ofpotatoes to Austria and Germany that it wascalled Kartoffeldorf [literally, “potato town” inGerman]. So what the International Year of

the Potato is preaching is absolutely true –the potato did save Slovenia from hunger.”

And it’s in Šencur that you unveil amonument to the potato on 25 May...“Yes, it’s a bronze, life-size statue of Maria

Theresa in peasant’s clothing, seated andoffering a potato in her outstretched hand. It’sa mark of gratitude to her and to the potato.We are expecting a big crowd, including theEuropean Ministers of Agriculture who will bemeeting in Slovenia on the same weekend –but they will have to queue up for the potatoeslike everybody else.”

Beyond 2008

Accelerated, sustainable developmentof the potato sector is essential both to guarantee

world food security and to drive economic developmentin countries dependent on agriculture

Potatoes for sale by the roadside in Kabale district, Uganda

or potato growers, every year is the year of the potato. InDecember 2008, as the International Year draws to its close,potatoes are being harvested in Argentina and Australia,in northwest China, and in the equatorial highlandsof Uganda and Indonesia. In the Andes, farming familieshave finished sowing their terraced plots before the rainyseason, the main crop is freshly planted in Malaysia andsouthern Malawi, and the spring crop will soon breakthe surface of fields from Viet Nam’s Red River Deltato countries around the Mediterranean.

If trends continue, 2009 will be another record year forglobal potato production, which has expanded steadily since1991 thanks to a massive 95 percent increase in harvests inthe developing world. However, dark clouds are gatheringover prospects for the year ahead. FAO has warned that theglobal economic slowdown may reduce flows to thedeveloping world of investment and development assistance,including the support to agriculture that has helped manycountries strengthen their potato sector. Developed countriesmay be tempted to raise trade barriers, which already applystiff tariffs on imported potato products. The banking crisiscould leave millions of farmers with little money and nocredit to invest in production.

In 2009 and beyond, accelerated and sustainabledevelopment of the potato sector is essential both toguarantee the food security of the world’s growingpopulation and as a source of added value to drive economicdevelopment in countries dependent on agriculture. TheInternational Year has highlighted the contribution that thepotato is already making to development and food securityin Africa, Asia and Latin America, where potatoes havebecome an important staple food and cash crop. But furtherprogress requires both increases in the productivity,profitability and sustainability of potato-based farming

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systems, and a stronger commitment by the internationalcommunity to agricultural and rural development.

The “Cusco challenge” (page 113) launched by theInternational Potato Center underlines the urgency offraming a new, vigorous research-for-development agenda.Potato science at the service of the poor will help boostpotato yields in the developing world by providingimprovements in the quality of planting material, potatovarieties that are more resistant to pests, diseases, waterscarcity and climate change, and farming systems that makemore sustainable use of natural resources. The raw materialof those new varieties must be drawn from the totality ofpotato genetic resources, which includes thousands ofAndean varieties. Needed is a renewed sense of responsibilityfor conservation of the potato gene pool, as well as concretesteps to ensure that developing countries have the capacityto utilize it.

Extending the benefits of potato growing also requiresaction on a wider front. The best strategy for achieving thefirst of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals –to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger – is agriculturaldevelopment that benefits small-scale farmers, whoconstitute most of the world’s poor and undernourished.As the United Nations’ lead agency for agriculture and ruraldevelopment, FAO will be a key partner in that process –advising on policies and strategies to modernize the potatosector, sharing its extensive knowledge of potato farmingsystems, promoting appropriate technology for sustainableintensification of production, and forging links amongdecision-makers, producers, processors and marketingchains.

The International Year of the Potato has helped raiseawareness of the potato and support for its development.Beyond 2008, IYP will serve as a catalyst for potatodevelopment programmes worldwide that can make a realcontribution to the fight against hunger and poverty.


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New light on a hidden treasure:early morning harvest near

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Task manager Eric KuenemanExecutive secretary NeBambi LutaladioAdministrative support Anna BrognaBelén Jiménez

Information programme coordinator Graeme ThomasCommunication specialist Kathleen McGovern World Photography Contest coordinator Nathalie SantiniPotato specialist Luigi Castaldi

Volunteers Sara Canobbi, Marco Fuduli,Diana Gutiérrez Méndez,Eleonora Panunzi,Margherita PieracciniTranslationsMarie-Thérèse Brun,Yasin el-Jaber,Jianchun Gong, Rosamaría Nuñez,United Nations Office in Belarus

International Year of the Potato SecretariatFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsRome, Italy

Text and design: Graeme Thomas and Giulio Sansonetti Cover: Giancarlo de Pol

The Secretariat was supported by thefollowing representatives of FAO units:

E. Arias, P. M. Arias, S. Aviles,D. Battaglia, B. Burlingame,S. Burchi, C. Calpe, S. Cowan, J. Crews, E. Crowley, G. Evers,

T. Friedrich, K. Gallagher, K. Ghosh, S. Grove, T. Haapala, D. Hallam, A. Hodder, P. Kenmore, W. Khoury, R. Laub, C. Matthews, E. Muehlhoff, G. Muir, N. Nguyen, E. Northoff, T. Osborn, N. Parsons, M. Prado-Leal,

A. Prakash, T. Price, S. Prokop,R. M. Samanez, C. Shin, A. Sonnino,A. Tavares, M. Villarrealand G. Wall

FAO Task Force

Chairpersons: Shivaji Pandey (FAO),Pamela Anderson (CIP)Committee members included: PermanentRepresentatives to FAO and high-levelofficials from Embassies in Italy:Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Ecuador,Egypt, Ethiopia, European CommissionDelegation, Germany, Indonesia,Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Peru,Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uganda,United States of America, Uruguayand Viet Nam

and representatives of: African PotatoAssociation, ANEIOA/Europatat, AusvegLtd., Bio-Fresh (UK), BioversityInternational, British Potato Council,British potato industry,Burson-Marsteller Paris, CornellUniversity, Regional Agency for RuralDevelopment (Friuli Venezia Giulia,Italy), European Association for PotatoResearch, Fleishman-Hillard Inc.,Global Potato News, HorticultureNew Zealand, HZPC Holland B.V,

Italpatat, Indian Potato Association,McCain Foods Ltd, National Unionof Potato Producers’ Associations(Italy), Potato Committee of the ChinaNational Food Industry Association,Potatoes South Africa, Potato Growersof Alberta (Canada), Potato Levy Boardin South Africa, Simmetrie&Partners,J.R. Simplot Co., Sustainable FoodLaboratory, The Potato Museum,and the United States Potato Board.

Informal International Steering Committee



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ew light on a hidden treasure

This book seeks to contributeto strengthening the potato industry everywhere. It will be of particular valueto developing countries that recognizethe potential of the potato to drive economic development and sustain rural livelihoods. We sincerely trust that, for everyone,it will throw new light on the hidden treasure that is the potato.


International Year of the Potato SecretariatFood and Agriculture Organizationof the United NationsViale delle Terme di Caracalla00153 Rome, Italy

[email protected]

“The potato is on the frontline in the fight against world hunger and poverty.”Jacques Diouf

Director-General, FAO

Documents

New light on a hidden treasure