UN Aims to Raise Potatoes' Appeal

UN Aims to Raise Potatoes' Appeal
High grain prices and the International Year of the Potato bring greater attention to the vegetable. Transcript of radio broadcast:
26 May 2008

Some governments and agricultural experts have this advice to help people deal with high grain prices: Eat more potatoes.


The United Nations has declared two thousand eight the International Year of the Potato. There is even a Web site to help bring more attention to the world’s third most important food crop, after rice and wheat: potato2008.org.
The world produced three hundred twenty million tons of the vegetable last year, about the same as in two thousand five. The top five producers were China, Russia, India, Ukraine and the United States. India hopes to double production in the next five years.

Officials in Bangladesh say that country produced a record eight million tons this season. Prices for rice, the main food crop, have doubled in Bangladesh in the past year. Potatoes now cost much less than rice.

Yet potatoes are not an especially popular food choice in Bangladesh. The government hopes that will change. And some Bangladeshis may have no choice. Soldiers are now being served potatoes as part of their daily food.

The International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, says potatoes could offer better food security for at least twenty Asian countries.

International trade in potatoes currently represents only about six percent of production, so prices are set locally. Potatoes are a good source of nutrients. And farmers can plant them in rotation with grain crops.

The United Nations World Food Program says potatoes can grow in almost any climate. They do not require very much water. And experts say potatoes can produce more food per hectare than wheat or rice.

Until the early nineteen nineties, most potatoes were grown in Europe, North America and the former Soviet republics. Person for person, Europeans still eat the most potatoes. But the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says production has increased sharply in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The F.A.O. says developing countries grew more potatoes than developed countries for the first time in two thousand five.

That same year, an American-led research team tried to settle the debate over where potatoes came from. They reported that all potatoes today have a single origin in southern Peru. The earliest evidence suggested that farmers developed potatoes from wild plants more than seven thousand years ago.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson.

----------------------------Google Translate

联合国的目的是提高马铃薯的呼吁
高粮食价格和国际马铃薯年带来更大的注意蔬菜。全文电台广播：
2008年5月26日
一些政府和农业专家有此意见，以帮助人们处理高粮价：多吃土豆。
联合国已宣布2000 8 ，国际马铃薯年。甚至还有一个网站，以帮助带来更多的关注，有利于世界的三分之一，最重要的粮食作物后，水稻和小麦： potato2008.org 。
世界上生产三万二点零零万吨的蔬菜，去年，大约有一样的在2000 5 。前5名制片人，中国，俄罗斯，印度，乌克兰和美国。印度希望增加一倍的生产在未来五年内。

在孟加拉国官员说，该国生产的纪录，八百万吨本赛季。价格为水稻，主要的粮食作物，增加了一倍，在孟加拉在过去的一年里。土豆，现在的成本远远低于水稻。

然而，马铃薯是不是一个受欢迎的食物，尤其是选择在孟加拉。政府希望将有所改变。和一些孟加拉国可能别无选择。士兵目前正在服务的土豆的一部分，他们的日常食物。

国际马铃薯中心在秘鲁首都利马，秘鲁，说土豆，可以提供更好的粮食安全至少20的亚洲国家。

国际贸易在马铃薯目前只占约六％的生产，所以价格定在当地。土豆是一个很好的养分来源。和农民的植物可以在他们的轮换与谷类作物。

联合国世界粮食计划署说土豆可以成长，几乎在任何气候。他们并不需要十分的水。和专家们说，土豆可以生产更多的粮食，每公顷比小麦或稻米。

直到19 90年代初，大部分马铃薯生长在欧洲，北美和前苏联加盟共和国。人的人，欧洲人仍然吃最土豆。但是，联合国粮食和农业组织说，生产大幅增加在亚洲，非洲和拉丁美洲。

粮农组织说，发展中国家的增长，更多的土豆比发达国家为第一次在2000 5 。

同一年，美国主导的研究小组，试图解决争论的地方，来自土豆。他们报告说，所有的土豆，今天有一个单一的原产地在秘鲁南部。最早的证据表明，农民发展马铃薯从野生植物以上七千年前。

这是该美国之音特别英语农业的报告，书面，由jerilyn沃森。