In December 2023, the UN General Assembly proclaimed May 30 as International Potato Day. To highlight the importance of potatoes to the lives of producers and consumers, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has chosen a timely theme for the day: “Sowing seeds of diversity, growing hope.”
What is the purpose of International Potato Day?
The potato is a key commodity for the world's agricultural food systems, from small-scale farmers who grow a variety of heirloom varieties in the Andes to large-scale commercial farms across continents. The world's third most widely consumed food crop, it provides food security and livelihoods to rural and urban populations across the planet.
The celebration of International Potato Day will consolidate the results of the International Year of the Potato, which was celebrated in 2008. It will also highlight the importance of the crop as a tool to combat hunger, poverty and environmental hazards that threaten agri-food systems. The International Day will also be an occasion to celebrate the important role of family farming, which employs a significant proportion of women, in preserving the diversity of the potato, and to highlight the cultural and culinary aspects of the cultivation and consumption of this crop.
Potatoes are a vital food product consumed by more than a billion people worldwide.
Let's sow the seeds of diversity, grow hope
There are now more than 5 improved, farmed and landrace varieties of potatoes in the world, many of which are produced and consumed only by indigenous peoples in the Andean highlands, which represent the center of the crop's genetic diversity. Remarkably, there are approximately 000 wild relatives of the cultivated potato that possess a wide range of desirable heritable traits, including the ability to adapt to a variety of environmental and growing conditions, resistance to pests and diseases, and high nutritional value.
The wide variety of tuber sizes, colors and shapes is striking. Many of the potato's wild relatives are unsuitable for human consumption, but provide valuable raw material for developing superior crop varieties that are adaptable to changing environmental conditions, resistant to pests and diseases, and meet market demands and consumer preferences.
Main points
Potatoes contribute to solving problems of improving agricultural production, improving the quality of human nutrition, improving the environment and improving the quality of life.
Production improvement: Widespread adoption of advanced agricultural practices and key technologies will help millions of farmers increase their farm productivity and incomes.
- The benefits of sustainable agronomic practices, including integrated crop management, need to be developed and proven, and farmers must be empowered to use them.
- Improve breeding methods to help meet demand for climate-smart and locally adapted varieties.
- Farmers must have access to high-quality seed material of highly adaptive and productive varieties that best suit the characteristics of production systems and environmental conditions.
- It is necessary to provide farmers with opportunities to learn agronomic techniques and use innovative technologies to increase yields and minimize loss and waste.
Improving nutrition quality. Potatoes are rich in nutrients, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.
- Potatoes are rich in vitamin C, which helps prevent scurvy.
- Potatoes contain a large amount of potassium, an electrolyte necessary for the proper functioning of the heart, muscles and nervous system.
- Potato peels contain dietary fiber necessary for the functioning of the human digestive system.
- The nutritional value of potatoes depends largely on the variety, climate, soil, growing methods, storage conditions and methods of handling, processing and preparation.
- Potatoes can be part of a healthy diet, but only if they are consumed in certain quantities, handled, processed and prepared in certain ways, and balanced with the rest of the food consumed.
Improvement of the environment. Adopting sustainable potato production systems can improve climate change adaptation and enhance biodiversity.
- By cultivating a wide range of high-yielding varieties adapted to local conditions, the resilience of potato growing systems can be increased.
- By growing potato varieties that are economical and hardy, you can reduce the crop's environmental impact.
- Mixed cropping or potato-legume rotation systems require less chemical fertilizer and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Environmentally friendly agronomic practices such as precision irrigation and conservation agriculture need to be developed, approved and disseminated.
Improving the quality of life. Potato is a major crop that contributes to food security and livelihood opportunities.
- The potato value chain, from cultivation to value-added processing, packaging and marketing, provides rural and urban residents, including women and youth, with significant opportunities for decent employment.
- In urban areas, more and more potato dishes and snacks are being produced and sold - this is a promising industry from the point of view of youth entrepreneurship.
- Greater access to innovative technologies and markets can improve the incomes of smallholder farmers who are custodians of a huge variety of potato varieties.
The amazing story of the potato: how a native of the Andes became a world celebrity
The potato, whose history began in the Andes, was once called “the flower of the ancient Inca civilization,” for which it was the main crop. In the 500th century, potatoes were introduced to Europe, from where they subsequently spread throughout the world. In just XNUMX years, it has become an important food crop for a wide range of consumers around the world.
The spread of the potato helped reduce the European population's dependence on grains and accelerated urbanization by increasing the food supply. It is believed that during the Qing Dynasty in China, potatoes saved the population from starvation. During times of conflict such as World War II, this high-yield product, which can be consumed with minimal processing, became an essential means of ensuring food security. The importance of the role of potatoes in such periods makes it necessary to pay special attention to them as a product that provides nutrition to the population in regions affected by crises, in conditions where commodity supply chains do not function and access to food is under threat.
The history of potatoes can be described by the apt expression “a coin has two sides.” The Great Famine that struck Ireland in the 1840s illustrates how a lack of diversity in genetic makeup and farming systems can have disastrous consequences. Due to the lack of genetic diversity in potatoes, potato late blight, caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans, destroyed potato crops throughout the country, causing crop failures that led to mass famine and waves of emigration.
To avoid future crises and ensure the potato contributes to the dynamic development of healthy agriculture and food systems, diversity must be enhanced and protected in both on-farm and crop production systems. There are approximately 5 unique genetic accessions of potatoes in the world, providing a resource for continuous enrichment of the gene pool, making it possible to exploit the diverse characteristics of this tuber and thereby not only reduce its susceptibility to pests, diseases and the effects of climate change, but also increase its adaptation to ever-expanding variability environmental conditions. Innovative solutions in cropping systems and mechanization offer additional opportunities to better integrate potatoes into diversified and resilient farming systems.
Data shows that global consumption of unprocessed potatoes is currently declining. At the same time, most countries are consuming more and more highly processed foods, including potatoes, and this alarming trend is contributing to the spread of various forms of malnutrition.
There is a turning point in the development of global agricultural and food systems, when it is necessary to radically reconsider approaches to food production, processing and consumption. Potatoes can be grown in different parts of the world, produce high yields in temperate and mountainous regions, and are used in a wide range of culinary traditions, making them a critical element in ongoing efforts to build greener, more profitable and equitable production systems.
Call to action
By eating different varieties of potatoes, we not only enrich our culinary culture, but also help preserve agricultural biodiversity. There are thousands of potato varieties around the world, each unique in terms of color, size, taste and nutritional properties, making them not only a staple crop, but also a source of culinary inspiration and an indispensable element in a variety of agri-food systems.
Each of us can contribute to lasting change. Initiatives to increase sustainable potato production and consumption that begin on International Potato Day can produce results that will be felt long after the event. Below are examples of such initiatives.
Governments and international bodies can:
- create an enabling environment, including a legal and institutional framework, for expanding the sustainable production and consumption of different varieties of potatoes as part of a healthy diet;
- promote research and development towards more productive, resilient and dynamic production systems in which potatoes are grown in conjunction with other crops;
- support research aimed at developing revolutionary technologies such as the development of hybrid diploid varieties and hybrid botanical potato seeds;
- Promote the development of cold storage and propagation systems for seed potatoes to enable farmers to consistently access and use optimal varieties.
Food industry enterprises:
- May be pioneers in the production of potato products! Make nutritious potato products accessible to consumers and minimize waste.
- Work with growers to explore new approaches to healthy food preparation and sustainable packaging, as well as new distribution methods that take into account the environmental benefits of potatoes.
Parents and teachers:
- Can cultivate healthy habits! Potatoes can be part of a healthy diet, formed on the principles of variety, balance, moderation and sufficiency. If culturally appropriate, potatoes can be included in nutritious and healthy diets at school and at home. Keep your children motivated and teach them healthy eating habits.
- Buy locally grown potatoes to support the farmers who grow them and contribute to a healthier planet.
Non-governmental organizations and civil society can:
- Conduct public events that highlight the cultural significance of the potato, addressing food security issues, and developing equitable and profitable potato value chains;
- Engage with policymakers and farmers, including women, youth and indigenous peoples, to ensure that their needs are taken into account in agricultural planning and development programmes;
- Share case studies, positive examples and lessons learned from local projects, as well as innovations worthy of scaling up.
How to participate?
Organize an event
Organize an event for the general public to celebrate International Potato Day. You can host a webinar, discussion, or roundtable meeting with political leaders, educators, scientists, farmers, and students, followed by a question-and-answer session to stimulate dialogue. Share your knowledge and experience with the public!
Home and community gardens
Organize a group potato project in a community or school garden to teach youth how to grow potatoes, educate them about their health benefits, and get them interested in healthy consumption of the crop. Research local potato varieties.
Engage with the public
Contact your favorite local restaurant, community center, private or government agency, or school cafeteria and tell them about International Potato Day. Invite them to recommend and include dishes from different varieties of potatoes on the menu.
Prepare delicious meals
Find out if local varieties can be prepared using the technology described in the recipe you have chosen. Find out which potato varieties work best. Chefs and food influencers can show their colleagues how to use potato varieties that vary in taste and texture in dishes. Families can continue their culinary traditions by remembering their favorite potato dishes. Invite your friends and colleagues to share recipes for delicious and healthy potato dishes.
Offer innovative solutions!
If you are developing innovative technology or have proposals to transform the potato value chain, tell the world about them! Email us about them at International-Day-of-Potato@fao.org and we will publish the information as we receive it on our official website.
Join the media in the celebration
Use your media contacts to spread the word about International Potato Day through newspapers, news sites, talk shows or press conferences.
Spread the word
Join online discussions and post with the hashtag #PotatoDay! Spread the word through social media.
Facts and figures
There are about There are 5 varieties of potatoes, and this diversity makes them an indispensable tool for global food security and nutrition. Thanks to this diversity, the crop can adapt to different conditions and production systems and be used in the fight against climate change, because each variety has unique properties in terms of viability.
Potatoes form the basis of the diet of billions of people and are third most consumed food crop in the world after rice and wheat.
Potatoes are included in the diet of approximately two-thirds of the world's inhabitants, indicating the importance of this tuber for the nutrition of populations around the world.
Between 2000 and 2020, global potato area fell by 17 percent, but crop production increased by 11,25 percent. Application of improved varieties and modern agronomic techniques allows you to produce more products from a smaller area and take another step towards creating sustainable crop production systems.
Wherever potatoes are grown, rural women play the most important role in its conservation, cultivation, harvesting and sale. In developing countries, as a rule, it is women who grow this crop.
Potatoes are grown in 159 countries around the world, and a total of 17,8 million hectares of land are allocated for them. The world produces 374 million tons of potatoes per year.
Potatoes contain antioxidants, natural compounds that help protect the body's cells from damage. Antioxidants help maintain healthy cholesterol levels and thereby help maintain heart health.
Potatoes are used to produce bio-based products such as biodegradable plastics. One of the unusual uses for potato starch is to create an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional plastic. Materials obtained from potato protein and starch, can be used to make various types of packaging, such as food containers and medicine capsules. In addition, they are gluten-free and environmentally friendly, making their use beneficial for the food industry.
Potato Park in the Andes. In the Andes Mountains, near Cusco, Peru, a 12-hectare potato park is one of the rare conservation initiatives that the local indigenous community uses and conserves its potato genetic resources and traditional knowledge on cultivation, plant protection and selection of this crop. This project can serve as an example for other indigenous communities because it is based on an effective approach to maintaining biological diversity in the natural environment and its use by the indigenous peoples who are most familiar with it.
Based on the International Potato Day 2024 Guide (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).