Potato planted area in Colombia shows a sustained decline in the last 4 years

The area planted with potatoes in the world has decreased significantly in recent years, since, if the year 2012 is compared with 2020, the decrease reached 14%, going from 18.7 million hectares to 16.4 million, according to the FAO. At the same time, production per hectare has shown a slight improvement.

 

In the case of Colombia, the production and the planted area of ​​this tuber have been in a sustained decline in the last 4 years.

 

Although the planted area increased by 8.1% between 2014 and 2017, with 132,000 hectares planted, it registered a decrease of 8% in the last 4 years.

 

According to Fedepapa, the production of Colombian potatoes in 2021 totaled 2.60 million tons, a lower result in the last five years. Tuber consumption per capita fell to 52 kilos, the lowest figure in 7 years.

 

Potato production fell due to the influence of Cundinamarca, which decreased 2% in 2020, although in departments such as Boyacá and Nariño it increased 12% and 11%, respectively, according to data from the Colombian Mercantile Exchange (BMC).