Ioana Ciausu de

Santivaez

Potato - a fantastic saga

From the main seed of the Andean Society to the conquest of the
world
In the actual context of an accelerated growth of the worlds population by
more than 100 million people a year, potatos potential to become the food
of the future is increasing. Potato has become a truly global food. But lets
have a look to the interesting voyages of this tuber until it became so
appreciated and valuable.
What makes potato so special?

Potato is the most important non-cereal food and its production has been
increasing in developing countries faster than that of any other major crop.
Potatoes are among the most efficient sources of energy and nutrients, with
a high content of vitamins A and C and other micronutrients when compared
to rice or maize. It also contains a high level of potassium, which has positive
benefits for heart health. Unlike major cereals, potato is not a globally traded
commodity. Potato prices are determined usually by local production costs,
that makes it less vulnerable to the global markets and consequently it is a
food security crop that can help low-incomes farmers and vulnerable sectors
of population from developing countries to cover their nutritional needs.
The journeys of potato
The saga of the potato begins about 8000 years ago near Lake Titicaca
(located at 3800 above sea level) in the Andes mountain range, on the
border between Bolivia and Peru. It was there that communities of gatherers
and hunters began domesticating wild potato plants that grew in abundance
around the lake. But it was in Central Andes that farmers succeeded in
improving the first tuber crops.
The food security provided by maize and potato, sustained also by the
development of irrigation and terracing, allowed the emergence of the
Tiahuanaco (near Lake Titicaca) and Huari (in the Peruvian Central Andes
highland) civilizations. The collapse of these two civilizations between 1000
and 1200 was followed by the rise of the Inca Empire in the Cusco valley
around 1400. In less than 100 years, the Incas created the largest state in
pre-Columbian America. They adopted and improved the agricultural
advances inherited from the previous highland cultures, and the potato
continued to play a fundamental role to the food security of their empire. It
1

Ioana Ciausu de
Santivaez

was consumed by officials, soldiers, and peasants. They also used a freeze
dried potato called chuo as an emergency stock after crop failures.
The Spanish invasion in 1532 brought an end to the Incas, but not to the
cultivation of potatoes. The spreading of the potato from the Andes to the
rest of the world seems like an adventure story. The conquistadores came in
search of gold, but the real treasure they took back to Europe was Solanum
Tuberosum. By 1537 the potato was already cultivated on the Spanish
mainland. Soon after, tubers were sent around Europe as exotic gifts. But
once the plant has been added to botanical gardens and herbalists
encyclopedias, interest decreased. European aristocracy admired its flowers,
but the tubers were considered fit only for pigs and the poor. Later, sailors
began to take potatoes to consume on large sea voyages. That is how the
potato reached India, China and Japan at the beginning of the 17 th century.
The only place in Europe where potato received a warm welcome from the
very beginning was Ireland, where it proved suited to cool air and moist soils.
From there, Irish immigrants took the tuber to North America.
The widespread adoption of the potato as a food crop in northern hemisphere
was delayed not only by the eating habits, but also by the challenge to adapt
a plant coming from the highland of the Andes (suited to altitudes between
3100 and 3500 meters) to a temperate climate with long summer days. It
was due to a disaster that potato acquired a new importance in Europe. In
the 1770s, much of continental Europe was devastated by starvation and the
potatos value as food security crop was suddenly recognized. Frederick the
Great of Prussia ordered his subjects to grow potatoes as insurance against
cereal crop failure, while the French scientist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
succeeded in having the potato declared edible in 1772. Around the same
time, on the other side of the Atlantic, the president of the United Stated,
Thomas Jefferson, started to serve French Fries to White House guests.
After initial hesitation, European farmers began growing potato at a larger
scale. Potato became Europes food reserve during Napoleonic wars and by
1815 it had become a staple crop across northern Europe. In the new urban
environment caused by the Industrial revolution, the potato became the first
modern food rich in energy, nutritious, cheap and easy to cook.
Meanwhile, European colonialism and emigration took potato to all corners of
the globe, from Bengal and Egypts Nile Delta to the Atlas Mountains of
Morocco and the plateau of Nigeria. Emigrant farmers took the potato to
Australia and back to South America, establishing the potato in Argentina
and Brazil. In the Asian heartland, the tuber moved along more ancient
routes, finding its way from the Caucasus to Turkeys Anatolian plateau, from
Russia to western China and from China to the Korean Peninsula.

Ioana Ciausu de
Santivaez

The 20th century saw the potato emerge as a truly global food. In the years
following the Second World War, huge areas of arable land in Germany and
Britain were dedicated to potato, and countries like Poland or Belarus
produced more potatoes than cereals. The invention in the 1920s of the
mechanical potato peeler helped make potato crisps Americas top selling
snack. A restaurant chain founded by the Mc Donald brothers in the United
States in 1957 spent millions of dollars to produce the perfect French-fry.
From the 1960s, the areas of cultivation of the potato began to expand in the
developing world. In India and China, the consumption is growing
exponentially. In Southeast Asia, it is registered an exploding demand from
the food industry. In the sub-Saharan Africa, potato is the preferred food in
many urban areas and it is an important crop in the highlands of Cameroon,
Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda.
The potato has a turbulent past and a bright future. While production in
Europe is declining, the potato has ample room of expansion in the
developing world. And in the Andes, where this history began, the
Government of Peru created in July 2008 a national register of Peruvian
native potato varieties to help conserve the countrys rich potato heritage.
The International Potato Center (CIP)
It is also not a coincidence that the International Potato Center (known by its
Spanish acronym - CIP), founded in 1971, established its headquarters in La
Molina, in the outskirts of Lima, at the base of Andes - the center of origin of
the potato and many other roots and tubers of great value. It was a winter
sunny day in Lima as I drove to La Molina to meet Mr. Andr Devaux,
coordinator of the Andean Potato Project at the CIP, who introduced me to
the fabulous world of the potato from the point of view of a researcher who
dedicated over 30 years of professional life to study and promote this tuber
in Bangladesh, Rwanda, Bolivia and for over 10 years in Peru.
CIPs main goals are to reduce poverty, increase environmental sustainability
and achieve food security on a sustained basis in developing countries
through scientific research and related activities on potato, sweetpotato
(known also as batata) and other root and tuber crops. From the very
beginning, scientists at the CIP provide seed, technology and training for the
cultivation of potato and they make potatos genetic resources available to
scientists worldwide. The CIP also maintain the world's largest potato gene
bank - with over 5,000 distinct types of wild and cultivated potatoes - and
important collections of sweet potatoes and other Andean roots and tubers.
Recent researches at the CIP show that the potato still has potential for
improved productivity, quality and environmental adaptation and
biotechnology can make an important difference in the crops ability to resist
disease, limiting the need to use costly and unhealthy chemicals.
3

Ioana Ciausu de
Santivaez

2008 - The International year of the Potato

And it is not surprising that due to the important role potato play in meeting
the global food and nutrition needs for the twenty-first century, 2008 was
declared by the United Nations the International Year of Potato (IYP). The
events that accompanied the declaration contributed to raise global
awareness of the potatos true value for world food security and the
materials of large diffusion were so friendly, that contributed to build a
feeling of sympathy toward the Solanum tuberosum.