Author: Archibald d'ArsenicArchibald d'Arsenic Date: Apr 15, 2008 04:57
As other staples soar, potatoes break new ground
LIMA (Reuters) - As wheat and rice prices surge, the humble potato --
long derided as a boring tuber prone to making you fat -- is being
rediscovered as a nutritious crop that could cheaply feed an
increasingly hungry world.
Potatoes, which are native to Peru, can be grown at almost any
elevation or climate: from the barren, frigid slopes of the Andes
Mountains to the tropical flatlands of Asia. They require very little
water, mature in as little as 50 days, and can yield between two and
four times more food per hectare than wheat or rice.
"The shocks to the food supply are very real and that means we could
potentially be moving into a reality where there is not enough food to
feed the world," said Pamela Anderson, director of the International
Potato Center in Lima (CIP), a non-profit scientific group researching
the potato family to promote food security.
Like others, she says the potato is part of the solution.
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