Once the scourge of diet-conscious Americans on the Atkins diet program a few years ago, the humble potato is now the gold standard tuber that may help the rest of the world cope with the current wheat and corn shortages.
An Indian woman worker harvests potatoes at Hoogly village about 40km from north of Calcutta, India, 24 March 2008. The Hoogly district is one of the most productive potato harvesting areas in West Bengal. Potatoes are packed on the field and sent out to local wholesale markets. EPA/PIYAL ADHIKARY
The wheat and rice crops are dearly expensive now to poor countries, and the tater is a being touted as a nutritious crop that could cheaply feed an increasingly hungry world.
A countrywoman holds some potatoes while working at a potatoe plantation in Huatata, 50 kilometers from Cuzco, Peru, 26 March 2008. Climate change threatens the potatoes biodiversity, being the third crop most consumed in the world, due to the fact that more than its 5,000 varieties may disappear. The alert was done by the scientific community at the Peruvian city of Cuzco, where the forum 'The Potatoes Science for the Poor: Challenges for the New Millenium' takes place. EPA/PAOLO AGUILAR
Potatoes, which are native to the Americas, can be grown at almost any elevation or climate.
The crop requires little water, and can be quickly harvested after planting, sometimes in less than two months. The crop can yield more food in a square mile than other crops too.
Now the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable a "hidden treasure".
Governments are also turning to tatties.
In Peru, leaders, the exorbitant wheat prices have spurred a program encouraging bakers to substitute potato flour for wheat to make daily bread.
Many love the flavor and cannot even tell the bread was made without wheat.
According to the UN, people in Belarus are tops in potato consumption, with each inhabitant of the eastern European state devouring an average of 376 pounds annually.
India, China, and Sub-Saharan Africa, the potato is expanding more than any other crop.
The humble spud has one-fourth of the calories of bread and boiled, they have more protein than corn and nearly twice the calcium, according to the Potato Center. They contain vitamin C, iron, potassium and zinc.
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