Description

More than 6,000 years ago in the high Andes of South America, people first domesticated the potato. In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors brought the potato from Peru to Europe, but it wasn’t until two centuries later that potatoes were introduced into the European diet. Today, potato is the fourth most important crop in developing countries after rice, wheat, and maize. More than 3 billion people consume potatoes.

The main climatic constraint limiting area expansion for the potato is heat. Potatoes respond positively to cooler temperatures. The main biotic constraints for potato are late blight, bacterial wilt disease, viruses, and potato tuber moth. Researchers estimate that developing country farmers spend $700 million annually to control such pests. Potato’s susceptibility to these pests and diseases makes the crop the number two user of agricultural pesticides worldwide, following cotton.

The potato has responded well to research, and plant breeding continues to result in significant improvements in the crop, especially for developing countries. Virology research in the potato has advanced greatly, and the safe movement of germplasm is now practical. Still, the adoption of improved potato varieties is often delayed by the absence of local seed or multiplication systems.

Statistics

Area Harvested in 2004
World: 18,999,125 hectares
Examples of top producers:
China: 4,592,512 hectares
India: 1,400,000 hectares
Russian Federation: 3,130,000 hectares
Ukraine: 1,556,000 hectares

How potatoes are used

Potatoes provide more edible food annually than the combined world output of fish and meat. Potatoes are increasingly consumed in the form of processed foods such as frozen French fries and potato chips. Important industrial uses include processing and manufacturing of starch and alcohol.

Nutritional information

The nutrient value of potatoes, including Vitamin C, is high. They are particularly useful as a source of energy and protein.

Center work on potatoes

Over the past two decades, the International Potato Center (CIP) has led a global effort to develop practices that control pests without chemicals. Among these are biologically safe practices such as potato cultivars with resistance to pests, and the use of natural predators and fungi. When presented as options according to local farming conditions, a process known as integrated pest management (IPM) combines these technologies to reduce or eliminate most chemical pesticide treatments.

In the coming years, potato production in South , West, and Southeast Asia should receive a major boost from a potato production system that utilizes hybrid true potato seed (TPS) as the planting material. TPS is the botanical seed derived from the berries produced by the potato plant. The use of true potato seed is expected to replace an estimated 20 percent of the seed tubers used for potato production in areas where healthy quality tuber seed are not available, such as rainfed mountain production zones and in countries that do not have sustainable seed production programs.

Results of CIP breeding work with South American potatoes have led to a 1998 harvest of a new set of experimental potatoes expected to be resistant to all existing forms of Phytophthora infestans, the same late blight disease pathogen that precipitated the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. Development of these clones comes at a time when new, virulent strains of late blight have cut global potato production by 15 percent.

For more information about the potato from CIP's web site, please click here.

Sources:

FAOSTAT. PRODSTAT.

CIP web site.