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Economic crisis threatens "potato boom
All countries
Wednesday 17 December 2008
Booming potato production in the developing world could falter as the global economic slowdown reduces investment, trade and potato farmers' access to credit, a new FAO report warned today.
The threat comes at a time when potatoes have become an important staple food and a lucrative cash crop in many developing countries. China is the world's biggest potato producer, and Bangladesh, India and the Islamic Republic of Iran are now among the world's leading potato consumers.
Drawing on the most recent FAO statistics, the report ‘New light on a hidden treasures’hows that the potato is the world's number one non-cereal food crop, with total production reaching a record 325 million tonnes in 2007. More than half of the global harvest was produced in developing countries.
However, the report says "dark clouds are gathering over prospects for the year ahead". The global economic slowdown threatens to reduce flows to developing countries of investment and development assistance, including the support to agriculture that has helped many countries strengthen their potato sectors.
"Urgently needed is a vigorous new agenda for potato research and development aimed at protecting countries' food security and providing new market opportunities for potato producers," said NeBambi Lutaladio, coordinator of FAO's International Year of the Potato 2008 secretariat.
Currently, potato yields in Africa, Asia and Latin America average just 15 tonnes per hectare, less than half of those achieved in Western Europe and North America. To strengthen potato farming in developing countries, FAO and the International Potato Center have called for "potato science at the service of the poor" to provide potato growers with better quality planting material, varieties that are more resistant to pests, diseases, drought and climate change, and farming systems that make more sustainable use of natural resources.
The threat comes at a time when potatoes have become an important staple food and a lucrative cash crop in many developing countries. China is the world's biggest potato producer, and Bangladesh, India and the Islamic Republic of Iran are now among the world's leading potato consumers.
Drawing on the most recent FAO statistics, the report ‘New light on a hidden treasures’hows that the potato is the world's number one non-cereal food crop, with total production reaching a record 325 million tonnes in 2007. More than half of the global harvest was produced in developing countries.
However, the report says "dark clouds are gathering over prospects for the year ahead". The global economic slowdown threatens to reduce flows to developing countries of investment and development assistance, including the support to agriculture that has helped many countries strengthen their potato sectors.
"Urgently needed is a vigorous new agenda for potato research and development aimed at protecting countries' food security and providing new market opportunities for potato producers," said NeBambi Lutaladio, coordinator of FAO's International Year of the Potato 2008 secretariat.
Currently, potato yields in Africa, Asia and Latin America average just 15 tonnes per hectare, less than half of those achieved in Western Europe and North America. To strengthen potato farming in developing countries, FAO and the International Potato Center have called for "potato science at the service of the poor" to provide potato growers with better quality planting material, varieties that are more resistant to pests, diseases, drought and climate change, and farming systems that make more sustainable use of natural resources.
