Potato

The potato (Solanum tuberosum) originates from South America, most likely from the central Andes in Peru. The potato was domesticated and has been grown by indigenous farming communities for over 4,000 years. Introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century, the crop subsequently was distributed throughout the world, including Asia (Smith, 1995) and since then it has been a vegetable or co-staple crop in the region.

In Asia, potatoes are predominantly grown by smallholder farmers, mostly under temperate climatic conditions in highland production areas. The potato is both an important tuber vegetable for local food security as well as a good cash crop for farmers. Production and storage are constrained by a plethora of pest and disease problems, most notably bacterial wilt, late blight, golden cyst nematodes and potato tuber moth. Access to healthy potato tuber seeds and credit is still problematic for most small-scale producers. Substantial investment in research and development, primarily led by the International Potato Center (CIP), has led to the development of effective potato IPM strategies.

More information about potato can be found in All About Potatoes: An Ecological Guide & Farmer Field School For Potato Integrated Pest Management.

For more information about the performance of potato cultivars in relation to agro-ecological conditions, cultivation practices, the occurrence of pests and diseases and timing of the production, search the FAO data base at: http://www.fao.org/hortivar