The International Year of the Potato
I must say I was quite startled to learn that the humble spud has been given an international honour by none other than the United Nations which has declared 2008 The International Year of the Potato.
Little did I know this would happen when as an impecunious student at Leeds University I practically lived off chips and mash. After leaving the library at 9:00 pm I would buy fish and chips (for 2 shillings 6 pence). An ample helping of both items would be given wrapped up in a newspaper which I would eat walking all the way to my digs (not having the bus fare!). For lunch I would have bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes).
I now find that both these practices kept me fit as we shall see how really nutritive potatoes are. Owning a potato cold storage in Munshiganj has added immensely to my knowledge about this crop.
Why the potato? In the next two decades the world population is estimated to grow on an average by more than a hundred million people per year, with the developing countries bagging 95% of the increase. This will naturally create immense pressures on food grains. The potato is the most important root and tuber crop in the world. The potato yields more nutritious food more quickly on less land and in harsher climates than any other major crop: up to 85% of the plant is edible human food, while for cereals the figure is around 50%.
Potatoes can be harvested in the tropics within 50 days of planting -- a third of the time it takes in colder climates. In high land areas of southern China and Vietnam, the potato is emerging as an off-season crop planted in rotation with rice and maize, it brings relatively high prices at the market.
Similarly, in the low lands of Bangladesh and India the potato's importance as a winter cash crop is rising dramatically. Potatoes contribute to health by providing calories and providing nutrients. The key to the potato's value lies in its high yield and in its almost perfect balance of nutrients. Potatoes can produce more energy per unit area per day than any other crop, and it is possible to subsist on a diet of spuds and very little else.
First domesticated in the Andes, the potato was carried to Europe in the 16th century. At first Europeans were suspicious: the potato was variously thought to be an aphrodisiac, to cause leprosy, or to be poisonous. But it slowly caught on as its merits in times of famine and war became apparent. It is more reliable than grain and remains hidden underground until harvested. By the late 18th century it was being hailed as a wonder food for the poor, at least. Marie Antoinette promoted potatoes by wearing their flowers in her hair.
The International Year of the Potato will no doubt contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, by helping to alleviate poverty, improve food security, and promote economic development just like it did in the industrial revolution in England in the nineteenth century. It provided cheap source of calories and was easy to cultivate, so it liberated workers from the land. The potato promoted free trade by contributing to the abolition of Britain's Corn Laws. The Corn Laws restricted import of grain into the United Kingdom. The restrictive Corn Laws were abolished because of potato famine in Ireland in 1845 in which one million Irish perished when the potato crop on which they subsisted succumbed to blight. This paved the way for liberalisation in other areas, and free trade became British policy. As the Duke of Wellington complained at that time: "Rotten potatoes have done it all."
The potato originated in Peru more than 7,000 years ago and the country is home to up to 3,500 different varieties edible tubers according to the International Potato Center whose headquarters are near Lima. Although the domestic consumption of spuds is about 90 kgs per head per year, that is barely a quarter as much as Belarusians consume annually. Peru produces barely 3.3 million tons of potato annually. "Peru needs to re-identify with the potato, because we have turned our back on it for too long," said President Garcia. Surprisingly Peruvians eat more rice than potatoes; the country even imports frozen chips for youth in fast-food restaurants.
The total world production of potatoes in the year 2006 was 314 million metric tons according to FAO. The other leading producers were (in million metric tons): China 70, Russia 38, India 23, US 19, Ukraine 19. In the Asia and Oceania zone, Bangladesh has the distinction of having produced 4.1 million MT. A British governor promoted potato cultivation in Bengal in 1770s and within a century it was well established a garden vegetable. However, large-scale production was held back by the lack of suitable varieties.
Today the potato has become a highly successful November-March winter crop in Bangladesh with a production value estimated at $560 million -- second only to that of paddy rice. In 2006 Bangladeshi farmers harvested more than 4.1 million tons of potatoes (12 times the amount in 1961, which placed the country at number 15 among the world potato producers and the number 5 in Asia). Potato is grown in central and northern Bangladesh and the quantity is increasing substantially each year.
This year there has been a bumper crop and will no doubt exceed the output of 2006. Currently there are over 330 cold storages spread out in various districts.
The total capacity of the Bangladesh potato cold storages is 2.39 million MT. It is evident that the cold storage business is spread out throughout Bangladesh with concentration in northern and central areas. Bangladesh also exports potatoes to Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia -- total quantity amounting to 60,000 MT. Brac alone exports about 20,000 tons and it is increasing every year. So we do see a very positive performance by Bangladesh in the potato sector.
Even today when the price of rice in the markets is in the range of 35-40 taka per kg, potato is selling in the range of 14-16 taka per kg. Undoubtedly potato is the best value for money. Our eating habits must change as it did in the early 50s when we took to eating wheat.
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