Kicking off the International Year of the Potato, 18 October 2007, the chief of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today celebrated the vegetable that is currently the world’s fourth largest food source.
“It is very, very important in terms of total supply,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told reporters of the $350 million potato industry. “And it’s also more and more important for the developing countries for the last 15 years, the production has doubled.
”The main objective of the Year is to promote the sustainable development of both potato-based systems and the potato industry, as well as to bolster producers' and consumers' well-being, affirming the need to focus world attention on the role that the potato can play in providing food security and eradicating poverty. |