Spuds in the spotlight
I missed National Potato Day - 3/2/08.
Laugh not, we can’t afford to take the humble spud for granted.
The world’s population is expected to rise by more than 100 million a year over the next two decades.
The UN is looking to the potato to provide nutritious food for the poor and hungry. It declared 2008 the Year of the Potato.
Anton Rosenfeld of Garden Organic’s R&D said that the potato is easy to grow, flexible to a range of conditions, undemanding of labour, and will often far out-yield any cereal crop.
But we must remember the Great Irish Potato Famine, which reduced the Irish population by 20 to 25 percent between 1845 and 1852.
And internationally high food prices continue to rise, especially for wheat.
This has forced a search for alternatives.
forgotten crops
Over the last century about 75% of the world’s crop varieties have been lost. [more]
There are more than 50,000 edible plants in the world. A few hundred make a significant contribution to food supplies, according to UN Food and Agriculture Organization. We now rely on just three crops: wheat, rice and maize.
We can also eat barley, rye, maize, millets, tef, cowpea or rice, or starchy root vegetables such as potatoes, yams, taro, and cassava (tapioca). Other staple foods include pulses (dried legumes), sago (derived from the pith of the sago palm tree), and fruits such as breadfruit and plantains.
top potato
Peru still has some 2,800 varieties of potato - more than any other country. The native potato is seen as the answer to their poverty problems. As well as encouraging people to switch back from wheat.
Their government is also looking at exporting native potatoes. They are exotic-looking, organic and have vitamins and amino acids that regular white potatoes do not have. [more]
Perhaps it’s worth re-aquainting ourselves with common vegetables and reconsidering their place in our future?
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