Dublin – Potatoes could contribute even more to world history and global food security, and total production of the food crop could double in the next 10 years, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said today in his keynote presentation to the 11th World Potato Congress (WPC) convened in Dublin.
Potatoes are the world’s third most important food crop and are regularly consumed by billions of people. They also generate income for small-scale producers, offer a low-fat, high-fibre source of healthy carbohydrates rich in antioxidants and nutrients, and also generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions than other major crops, said Qu, an acclaimed expert on the food crop.
Earlier in his career, he inter alia helped organize the 2015 WPC in China and served as a Trustee of the International Potato Center.
Today potatoes, whose genetic origins are in South America, are cultivated on over 20 million hectares of land in 150 countries for a total global output of 359 million tonnes in 2020.
By focusing on improving yields and making full use of historic potato cultivation areas, worldwide production can be raised to 500 million tonnes in 2025 and 750 million tonnes in 2030, the Director-General said.
“Potatoes will become one of the advantage crops in the global food security system when the yield of other cereal crops is close to the limit,” Qu said.
While hailing the genius of the peoples of Peru and Bolivia who domesticated the potato, the Director-General noted that Asia and Africa are the regions with the fastest growth of potato production today, while output is declining in Europe and North America.