Every potato will have its day!

Potatoes are not just a staple in the diets of many people but also provide opportunities for employment and sustainable economic growth along their value chains. With around 5,000 varieties, the diversity of potatoes plays a vital role in global food security and nutrition and in helping them adapt to different environments and tackling climate change. Small-scale family farmers, a significant proportion of whom are women, play important roles in safeguarding the crop’s diversity.

A reason why maintaining the diversity of potatoes is crucial is that over-reliance on a few varieties increases vulnerability to pests and diseases and the impacts of climate change.

Remarkably, there are about 180 wild relatives of the cultivated potato, with a wide range of desirable heritable traits, including adaptability to different environments and production systems; resistance to pests and diseases; and high densities of nutrients. The variations in size, colour and shape of the tubers are also astounding. Conserving the wild varieties, even though they may not be palatable to humans, is also critical because their heritable traits can be used to increase the resilience and nutritional qualities of cultivated varieties through plant breeding. These wild relatives, though many may be unsuitable for human consumption, are therefore a veritable pool of ‘raw materials’ for breeding progressively superior varieties of potato that are adapted to changing environmental conditions; resistant to new biotypes of pests and diseases; and meet market demands and consumer preferences.

Originating in the Andes Mountains, the potato was known as the “flower of ancient Inca civilization”, for whom it was a staple crop. “It was like bread in France, or rice in southern China,” says Charles C. Mann, the author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. A 12,000-hectare potato park in the Peruvian Andes is one of the few conservation initiatives in which Indigenous Peoples are managing their potato genetic resources and thereby protecting traditional knowledge.

Potato was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, from where it subsequently spread to the rest of the world. In just five centuries, potatoes have become a key food crop for farmers and consumers across the globe.

In Europe, the potato reduced reliance on cereal crops as a staple and contributed to the process of urbanization by increasing the food supply. In the Qing Dynasty in China, potato was credited with saving lives by helping to curb starvation. During times of conflict, with World War II as a notable example, potatoes played a crucial role in assuring food security thanks to their ability to produce relatively high yields and be consumed with minimal processing.

However, every coin has two sides – an apt expression to reflect the history of potato. Ireland’s Great Famine of the 1840s is a stark example of how a lack of diversity in the genetic base and cropping systems can lead to disastrous outcomes. The potato late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, decimated potato crops uniformly due to a lack of genetic diversity, resulting in poor yields leading to widespread famine and waves of emigration.

In December 2023, the United Nations General Assembly tasked the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with facilitating the annual observance of the International Day of Potato. This International Day of Potato aligns with the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, which supports the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

Today, some estimates suggest that the consumption of fresh potatoes is on the decline, while consumption of highly processed foods, including those made from potatoes, is on the rise in most countries around the world – a trend that unfortunately is contributing to several forms of malnutrition.

“When the general public hear of potatoes what comes to their mind firstly might be french fries or potato chips which are not necessarily the healthiest way of consuming potatoes,” says FAO agronomist Makiko Taguchi. The International Day will also serve to showcase different healthier ways of preparing and consuming potatoes, “which links to varietal diversity because certain varieties are more nutritious,” she adds.

FAO stated its work on the potato encompasses support for farmers and Indigenous Peoples to build capacity in managing common diseases such as Late Blight, fostering innovative solutions to grow potatoes with minimal resources and promoting cooperation with diverse actors along the crop’s value chain.