Press Room /  Facts and Figures: Let them eat potatoes!

Let them eat potatoes!

by Pamela K. Anderson

Potatoes are easy to take for granted, but in fact they are the most important root and tuber crop in the world. Today, hundreds of millions of people in the developing world depend on potatoes for their survival and the potatoes could play a major role in feeding the future population.

Hunger, poverty and sickness are already widespread in the developing countries. But in the next two decades, the world’s population will grow by more than a hundred million people a year. Most of this growth will come in the developing countries, where the pressures on earth, water and other natural resources are already intense.

The humble potato holds enormous promise to contribute to meeting the needs of the developing world. In fact, the adjective “humble” is a complete misnomer. Picking up a bag of potatoes in the supermarket puts you directly in touch with a treasure trove of history. The potato did not come from Idaho, Ireland or Germany. The origin of today’s potato stretches back 8000 years, past 16th century scholars, Spanish conquistadors, the Inca civilization and pre-Colombian cultures to the shores of Lake Titicaca high up in the Andes. Nowadays almost 5000 varieties of potato exist, with a fantastic range of shapes, sizes flavours and colours, from pure white to deep purple.

Early Andean people first took the potato from the wild and started domesticating and adapting it to their needs on the freezing altiplano 4000 metres above sea level in what is now Peru. Already adapted to the harsh environment, the tubers of the potato were a valuable source of food that freed the Andean peoples from hunger.

The same is coming true today in the developing countries. In fact, history is repeating itself. First recorded as being eaten by patient in hospital in Seville in Spain in 1753, the potato played a crucial role in freeing Europe’s peasantry from hunger and providing cheap and nutritious food for the workers of the Industrial Revolution.

Today, the potato is grown in over 130 countries and over a billion worldwide eat it. The people of Belarus are the world champion potato eaters, eating 171.2 kg each per year. But the truth is, the potato is feeding more and more people in the developing nations, as their need for food increases with expanding populations.

China is currently the world’s biggest producer of potatoes, growing over 70 million tonnes per year. Almost 213 million tonnes of potato are grown to eat every year, making it the third most important food crop in the world after rice and wheat. More than half of the global potato output comes from developing countries. Since the early 1960s, it has outstripped all other food crops in the developing countries in terms of growth in production area, and this trend is expected to continue.

Potatoes are ideally suited to places where land is limited and labor is abundant, conditions found in much of the developing world. What’s more, the potato yields more nutritious food more quickly on less land and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Potatoes produce more food per unit of water than any other major crop. Potatoes are also an excellent source of complex carbohydrates.

Far from being fattening, a medium size potato boiled with the skin on provides about 100 calories, 26 grams of carbohydrates, zero cholesterol, about 4 grams of protein, 3 grams of fibre, about half the daily adult requirement of vitamin C, as well as significant amounts of iron, potassium, zinc, thiamin, niacin and vitamin B6. The potato also contains valuable supplies of such essential trace elements as manganese, chromium, selenium and molybdenum.

One of the potato’s secrets is its adaptability. Farmers in the tropics can harvest potatoes within 50 days of planting – a third of the time it takes in colder climates. In the highland areas of southern China and Vietnam, the potato is emerging as an off-season crop; planted in rotation with rice and maize, it brings relatively high prices at the market. Similarly, in the lowlands of Bangladesh and eastern India the potato's importance as a winter cash crop is rising dramatically. And in China, the tuber is increasingly being viewed by the state as an alternative crop to feed its rice-dependent population. As farmland there continues to be threatened by urbanization, the potato indeed could become an important food crop, as it can be planted in dry areas not suitable for rice and is easy and cheap to produce.

For poor potato farmers in developing countries, improving yields is essential to their ability to achieve economic independence and food security. While average potato yields in North America and western Europe often reach 40 tonnes per hectare, yields in developing countries are usually below 20 tonnes per hectare—a persistent and sizable yield gap. I represent the International Potato Center, which is based in Peru. We seek to reduce poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in developing countries through scientific research and related activities on potato, sweetpotato and other root and tuber crops.

We need to develop sustainable and robust systems to support developing country agriculture, as well as to improve the access of people in the developing countries to the benefits of new knowledge and technologies. The United Nations has recognized the contribution that the potato can make by declaring 2008 the International Year of the Potato, providing us with the opportunity to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of this crop. During this Year, my centre will be working closely with its collaborating institutions and donors to highlight the importance of the contribution that the potato can make.

The potato has come a long way since it was blamed for causing everything from lust to leprosy, yet many misconceptions—and a lack of information—still surround the crop. We firmly believe that this healthy tuber will increasingly play a vital role in alleviating hunger and improving the livelihoods and health of different populations around the world. In this way we can contribute to achieving fair, healthy and sustainable human development.

Dr Pamela K. Anderson is the Director General of the International Potato Center in Peru.