First International Day of Potato in Russia: “T’is our second bread”
On 30 May, as part of the events dedicated to the International Day of Potato (IDP), which was celebrated this year for the first time under the “Harvesting diversity, feeding hope” slogan, the FAO Moscow Office together with the Russian Potato Research Centre held a conference for scientists, practitioners, and representatives of the private sector and farms.
Its participants shared their achievements in potato production, talked about research results and the application of innovative methods to grow, harvest and process potatoes, and discussed the opportunities for the future development and promotion of the potato as one of the most important food products for Russia.
Cultivation technology, selective breeding, disease and pest control, nutritional value, and personnel training for the industry were the main topics for discussion.
Academician Pyotr Chekmarev, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, welcomed the participants of the forum.
Having noted the importance of the potato in dietary patterns of all peoples of the world, Sergey Zhevora, Director, Russian Potato Research Centre, emphasized that this crop “ensures good nutrition for many people and improves their lives”.
“Over the past decades, global potato production has increased by 10%, creating more jobs and income,” Sergey Zhevora continued. “However, in order to fully realize the potential of this agricultural crop to eliminate hunger and malnutrition across the globe, there is still a lot of research to be done into the areas of seed selective breeding, cultivation technology, and processing of potatoes into potato products. In the future, thanks to cutting-edge technologies, we will be able to obtain high yields based on highly productive, highly resistant and adaptive potato varieties.
We know that the potato originated in Peru. During the time of our meeting, the harvesting there is in full swing, which initially determined the choice of date for the International Day of Potato.”
“I would like to congratulate everyone on the occasion and thank the FAO Moscow Office for the attention to our ‘second bread’,” Alexey Krasilnikov, Executive Director, Association of potato and vegetable market participants, said. “Russia rightly ranks high on the list of potato producers in the world. Over the past 20 years, the commercial production of this tuber in Russia has grown fourfold, and last year another record was set, almost 9 million tonnes. These results were achieved through the use of intensive technologies and a threefold increase in yield.”
“One of important factors in potato production is the use of high-quality seed material,” Alexey Krasilnikov highlighted. “Currently, the government of the country and the Ministry of Agriculture are paying great attention to this. Some good results have already been achieved, new domestic varieties have been developed, and the production of upmarket material is being ramped up. Our specialized institute of potato production makes a significant contribution to this work.”
“Thanks to selective breeding and intensive use of fertilizers and plant protection products, the yield of staple grains has almost reached its maximum limit. Meanwhile, the potential for increasing potato yield is far from exhausted,” Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, emphasized. “And while the potato is now the third most important crop in the world, its role will only grow in the future, thanks to new varieties and, above all, increased resistance to climate change.”
“For Russian crop producers, the year was not off to a good start: extremely low temperatures at the start of the growing season, floods that washed away crops in entire regions and the drought forecast for a large part of Russia. Thus, high hopes are pinned on the potato, which is more resistant to such disasters than other crops.
Growing and harvesting more is only a part of the solution. The issue of reducing loss and waste requires attention. Compared to the USSR, the new Russia has made a huge, one might even say, quantum leap in the preservation of agricultural products. However, there is much more to be done here. At different production stages, and in this case we are talking about losses, and at the stage from outlets to the kitchen table, a total of up to 40% of raw materials and finished food products is lost.
If this figure was reduced by at least half, then we could fully feed the world’s population, at least providing it with an energy-sufficient diet, and advance towards implementing the ‘four betters’ strategy: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, ensuring that no one is left behind.”
“The celebration of the International Day of Potato gives us an opportunity to understand the great nutritional, economic, environmental and cultural value of this crop,” Aghasi Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the FAO Moscow Office, said. “This is also an opportunity to celebrate the role of potatoes in ensuring global food security, reducing poverty and improving livelihoods of millions of people, and highlight the key role of potato production knowledge and practices, including those of Indigenous Peoples.
In addition to carbohydrates, potatoes contain the highest amount of protein compared to other root crops, have plenty of vitamin C, and their fat content does not exceed 1%.
Potatoes are an important element of strategies to ensure affordable and nutritious food products and improve the lives of people in rural areas and other territories where natural resources, especially arable land and water, are limited, and inputs are expensive.
From this standpoint, the choice of this agricultural crop is right due to its versatility and ability to grow in different environmental conditions,” Aghasi Harutyunyan concluded.
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The conference also brought together the following speakers and discussion participants: Alexander Malko, Head of Rosselhoztsenter; Irina Rodkina, Deputy Director-General for academic work of the Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Potato, Fruit and Vegetable Growing; Elena Rogozina, Head of the Department of Potato Genetic Resources, Federal Research Center N.I. Vavilov VIR; Evgeny Simakov, Head of the Experimental Gene Pool Department, Head of the Selective Breeding Centre, Russian Potato Research Centre; Olga Slovareva, acting Director of the Scientific and Methodological Department of Bacteriology, VNIIKR Federal State Budgetary Institution of Rosselkhoznadzor; Vladimir Nosov, Head of the Сompetence Сentre JSC Apatit (PhosAgro Group), and other renowned experts.
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The second, scientific and practical part of the conference was dedicated to the issues of processing potatoes into potato products. Vasily Byzov, Director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Starch and Starch-Containing Raw Materials Processing, delivered the keynote presentation. Eleven recognized experts in the field gave in-depth presentations.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The potato is an almost universal crop that can grow in a wide variety of conditions. Today, the potato is grown on more than 20 million hectares in 150 countries, and its total global production was 359 million tonnes in 2020.
If we focus on increasing yield and making full use of historic potato growing areas, the global production volume could reach 500 million tonnes in 2025 and 750 million tonnes in 2030. The potato is climate-friendly since its production causes low greenhouse gas emissions compared to other agricultural crops.
There are a lot of potato varieties, over 5000, including improved and farm (landrace) ones; many of those are unique and grow only in their homeland, in Latin America.
150 wild relatives of the cultivated potato show wide genetic variability in a range of traits, including adaptability to different growing conditions, resistance to pests and diseases, and various tuber characteristics. They are a repository of heritable traits for further genetic improvement of this crop in accordance with constantly changing environmental conditions, new biotypes of pests and diseases, and consumer preferences.
The gene bank of the International Potato Center in Lima stores samples of over 7000 different local varieties and the wild relatives with a wide range of characteristics, including adaptability to various production environment conditions and resistance to pests and diseases.
FAO calls for greater support for genetic improvement of potatoes and shorter selective breeding cycles for potato varieties, and notes the potential value of virus-free potato seed systems.
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