  Online nowHapax- Hapax is a guy from Cork, Ireland.
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- Member since Jan 18, 2005
Who watches the lion suffer in his cage rots in the lion's memory. (René Char) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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International Year of the Potato 2008
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May 2, 1:56am
10 reviews
•http://www.potato2008.org/en/index.html
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year of the potato
local staple
Food prices are soaring worldwide, driven by fierce competition for reduced international supplies of wheat, maize and rice, and other agricultural commodities. As concern grows over the risk of food shortages and instability in dozens of low-income countries, global attention is turning to an age-old crop that could help ease the strain of food price inflation.
The potato is already an integral part of the global food system. It is the world's number one non-grain food commodity, with production reaching a record 320 million tonnes in 2007. Potato consumption is expanding strongly in developing countries, which now account for more than half of the global harvest and where the potato's ease of cultivation and high energy content have made it a valuable cash crop for millions of farmers.
At the same time, the potato - unlike major cereals - is not a globally traded commodity. Only a fraction of total production enters foreign trade, and potato prices are determined usually by local production costs, not the vagaries of international markets. It is, therefore, a highly recommended food security crop that can help low-income farmers and vulnerable consumers ride out current turmoil in world food supply and demand.
In Peru, for example, the government has acted to reduce costly wheat imports by encouraging people to eat bread that includes potato flour. In China, the world's biggest potato producer, agriculture experts have proposed that potato become the major food crop on much of the country's arable land. India has plans to double its potato production.
Over the next two decades, the world's population is expected to grow on average by more than 100 million people a year. More than 95 percent of that increase will occur in the developing countries, where pressure on land and water is already intense. A key challenge facing the international community is, therefore, to ensure food security for present and future generations, while protecting the natural resource base on which we all depend. The potato will be an important part of efforts to meet those challenges...
The potato has been consumed in the Andes for about 8 000 years. Taken by the Spanish to Europe in the 16th century, it quickly spread across the globe: today potatoes are grown on an estimated 192 000 sq km, or 74 000 square miles, of farmland, from China's Yunnan plateau and the subtropical lowlands of India, to Java's equatorial highlands and the steppes of Ukraine.
The potato should be a major component in strategies aimed at providing nutritious food for the poor and hungry. It is ideally suited to places where land is limited and labour is abundant, conditions that characterize much of the developing world. The potato produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop - up to 85 percent of the plant is edible human food,
Potatoes are rich in carbohydrates, making them a good source of energy. They have the highest protein content in the family of root and tuber crops, and protein of a fairly high quality, with an amino-acid pattern that is well matched to human requirements. They are also very rich in vitamin C - a single medium-sized potato contains about half the recommended daily intake - and contain a fifth of the recommended daily value of potassium.
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