Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Potato Utilization and Markets
Jennifer K. Bond*
USDA-Economic Research Service, Washington, USA
The potato is ranked by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as the
world's fourth most important food plant behind
rice, wheat, and maize (FAO, 2006). As one of
the most diverse and nutritious crops on Earth,
potatoes can be grown on most continents and
come in an array of shapes, sizes, and colors
(CIP, 2012a).
More than 4000 individual varieties are
thought to exist worldwide, yet modern culti-
vars share a single origin limited to the south-
ern regions of Peru and the north-east sections
of Bolivia (CIP, 2012a). Potatoes found growing
in this area were cultivated between 7000
and
10,000
years ago, although it was not
until the 16th century that Spanish explorers
brought potatoes back to Europe (Kiple and
Ornelas, 2000).
Once the tuber arrived in Europe, it slowly
gained popularity. Initially, it was a novelty
shared primarily among royal courts, and later
as an inexpensive and scurvy-preventing food
source for sailors. Subsequently, the general
population overcame misgivings about this rela-
tive of the poisonous nightshade plant and ac-
cepted the potato as a nutritious and hardy
staple crop (Kiple and Ornelas, 2000).
In the past
20
years, considerable changes
Production has shifted away from some traditional
potato producing regions, including Europe and
North America, to the developing world, where
the need for nutritionally rich staple crops is ar-
guably greater. New and significant suppliers,
most notably China, have emerged as produc-
tion leaders, while worldwide demand for pro-
cessed potato products has grown steadily
(FAO, 2008a).
3.1
Production Growth in Emerging
and Developing Countries
According to the FAO, potato production attrib-
uted to developed nations has declined by ap-
proximately 1% each year for the past
20
years,
and an increasing share of production is used for
the processing market (FAO, 2008a). In contrast,
cultivation and consumption in developing
countries focuses on fresh (table-stock) pro-
duction and has grown by about 1% per year,
although, collectively, these countries remain
net importers of the tuber (FAO, 2008b;
FAOSTAT, 2013).
In 1990, emerging and developing countries,
which included both Russia and China, accounted
for a slight majority of production (55.5%). By
2010, emerging and developing country pro-
duction comprised nearly two-thirds of total
