Potato The food for the future
The United Nations has declared the year 2008 as the International Year of Potato. This global commemoration is intended at increasing the knowledge and understanding of the importance of potato in concentrating on issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.
Today, the food prices are rising globally, being compelled by severe competition due to reduced international supplies of wheat, maize, rice, and other agricultural commodities. As concern grows over the risk of food shortages and instability in dozens of low-income countries, global attention is turning to an age-old crop that could help ease the strain of food price inflation. The compliant crop of potato is potentially very useful as it can be grown easily in many parts of the world and is a rich source of nutritious food. The nutritional value of potato along with its taste and ease of cooking has made it the most popular crop in the entire world. Potato is a good source of calories, hence people with low income in many developing countries, who cannot afford high-calorie diet such as milk products, meat and pulses, use potatoes as their prime source of calories. Potatoes are rich in carbohydrates, making them a good source of energy. They have very high protein content and are a useful source of vitamin C. Potatoes are considered good for high blood pressure patients and for the patients of hyper acidity. Compared to one cup of milk, it has seven times more iron, the same amount of thiamine, and eight times more niacin. Besides it is a rich source of minerals like calcium, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. Not only is it easily digested, inexpensive and healthy, it is cholesterol-free and 99% fat free.
In the times of population explosion, squatted economy and world food security concerns it is very practical to aim at promoting the development of such sustainable systems that augment the well-being of producers and consumers and help realize the full potential of a crop as a ‘food for the future’. Over the next two decades, the population of the world is expected to rise on average by more than 100 million people a year and more than 95 percent of that increase will occur in the developing countries, where pressure on land and water is already intense. The potato should be a chief constituent in policies aimed at providing nutritious food for the poor and hungry. It is ideally suited to places where land is limited and labor is abundant that is the conditions that typify much of the developing world. The potato produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Moreover, up to 85 percent of the plant is edible human food, compared to around 50% in cereals.
India is the biggest potato producer after China and Russia and has 1.28 million hectares under potato. The country’s annual output runs to 22.49 million metric tons. The major potato producing states in India are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Karnataka and Uttaranchal. Today, India is one of the highly populated nations in the world. A key challenge is to ensure food security for present and future generations and to feed all of its population, while protecting the natural resource base on which we all depend, therefore, no crop other than potato can make an impact and sustain the efforts to meet those challenges.
However, the lack of adequate storage facilities and inadequate infrastructure to facilitate the transportation and marketing of processed potato products continue to impede the development of large-scale potato processing in India.
More efforts must be undertaken in order to extract this untapped potential and making the country productive and self sufficient. This year let us join hands in creating better awareness in enhancing the further progress of this wonder crop and accord it due importance in the interest of the country’s food security.
