KARACHI (NPTV/UN): In December 2023, UNGA had decided to designate 30th May as the International Day of Potato to raise awareness apropos the millennia-old food.
Potatoes are an important component of strategies to provide accessible and nutritious food and improved livelihoods in rural and other areas where natural resources, especially arable land and water are limited and inputs expensive.
The crop’s versatility and ability to grow in a variety of conditions make it an advantageous crop choice.
Potatoes are also a climate-friendly crop, as they produce low levels of greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to other crops.
In the past decade, the global production of potatoes has increased by 10 percent, leading to growth in employment and income, but more work still needs to be done to harness the full potential of the crop in the quest to end hunger and malnutrition globally.
In addition, there is a wide spectrum of diversity among potatoes, with over 5,000 improved varieties and farmers’ varieties/landraces, many of which are unique to their original location in Latin America.
The 150 wild relatives of the cultivated potato show a wide genetic variation with a range of traits, including the ability to adapt to different production environments, resistance to pests and diseases, and different tuber characteristics.
They are a repository of the heritable traits for the continued genetic improvement of the crop to respond to ever changing environmental conditions, new bio-types of pests and diseases and consumers’ preferences.
The potato represents one of the most important contributions of the Andean region to the entire world, as it is one of the five main food crops consumed in the world, contributing to food security
Small-scale and family farming production of the potato, particularly by rural farmers, including women farmers, supports efforts to reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty, and achieve food security, and relies on and contributes greatly to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
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