International Day of Potatoes 2024: Potatoes are everyone’s favourite. This year marks the first-ever celebration of International Potato Day. According to Chikelu Mba, Deputy Director of the FAO Plant Production and Protection Division, the purpose of the day is to honour small-scale farmers, both past and present, who have preserved the vast diversity of native potato varieties for many millennia by caring for them. This celebration extends beyond the numerous health and economic advantages of this significant crop.
Read this article to learn about the date, theme, history, significance and facts about potatoes on International Potato Day.
International Potato Day 2024: Date & Theme
International Potato Day is commemorated on May 30 all over the globe. In 2024, the first International Day of the Potato focused on the potato's contribution to the lives of producers and consumers with the theme: ‘Harvesting diversity, feeding hope.’
As per the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “the theme underscores the fact that with over 5,000 improved varieties, and farmers’ varieties/landraces of the crop, there are ample choices for the needs of diverse production systems, culinary preferences and industrial applications, especially in these turbulent times, when many agrifood systems are in peril around the world.”
World Potato Day 2024: History
According to the UN Organization website, in December 2023, the General Assembly decided to designate May 30 as the International Day of Potato to raise awareness of the multiple nutritional, economic, environmental and cultural values of the potato and its contribution as an invaluable food resource and as a generator of income for rural families and producers, to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve its Sustainable Development Goals.
International Day of Potato: Significance
The global campaign aims to raise public awareness about the economic, social and environmental importance of the potato and its contribution to food security and nutrition while advocating for the replication of best practices and the development of sustainable value chains.
The International Day will also provide a platform to emphasise the contributions of potatoes in improving food security, nutrition and livelihoods, and examine the constraints to optimising the benefits from the crop’s value chains, especially its potential to transform agrifood systems and, ultimately, contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Potato Day 2024: Interesting Facts
The potato has its origins in the Andes region of South America. It represents one of that region's most important food contributions to the world. Today, potatoes rank among the top five staple food crops consumed globally, vital in ensuring food security. According to the UN, “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.”
Some super interesting facts about potatoes are:
- About 2/3 of the world's population consumes potatoes as its staple food; nearly 50% of potatoes are used as household staple food or vegetables.
- The potato is resistant to drought, cold, and barren land and has wide adaptability.
- By 2030, the total production of potatoes will reach 750 million tons, with an increase of 112%, of which the production of Asia, Africa and Latin America will exceed 440 million tons, with an increase of 100%, accounting for about 59% of the world.
- Potatoes are also a climate-friendly crop, as they produce lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions than other crops.
- The 150 wild relatives of the cultivated potato show a wide genetic variation with various traits, including the ability to adapt to different production environments, resistance to pests and diseases, and different tuber characteristics.
- They are a repository of heritable traits for the continued genetic improvement of the crop to respond to ever-changing environmental conditions, new biotypes of pests and diseases and consumers’ preferences.
Potato is a millennia-old food with origins in the South American Andes region that made its way to Europe in the 16th century and then spread around the world. Potato is much more than a source of nourishment. In the past decade, the global production of potatoes has increased by 10 per cent, 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.
Important Days and Dates in May 2024
