e-magazine
Charting the Course
China reviews the year gone by and sets new goals accordingly
Current Issue
· Table of Contents
· Editor's Desk
· Previous Issues
· Subscribe to Mag
Subscribe Now >>
Expert's View
World
Nation
Business
Finance
Market Watch
Legal-Ease
North American Report
Forum
Government Documents
Expat's Eye
Health
Sci-Tech
Lifestyle
Books
Movies
Backgrounders
Special
Photo Gallery
Blogs
Reader's Service
Learning with
'Beijing Review'
E-mail us
RSS Feeds
PDF Edition
Web-magazine
Reader's Letters
Make Beijing Review your homepage
Top Story
Top Story
UPDATED: February 11, 2015 NO. 7 FEBRUARY 12, 2015
Rediscovering the Value of the Potato
How China is learning to stop worrying and love the humble spud
By Wang Hairong
Share

PICK OF THE CROP: Farmers in Lilou Village of Tengzhou, Shandong Province, harvest potatoes on November 7, 2014 (SONG HAICUN)

The potato, with its bumpy, uneven exterior and typically dirt-covered skin, has traditionally been regarded as a humble food.

For more than 400 years, Chinese people have consumed potatoes as an ingredient, cutting it into strips to stir fry, or chopping it into chunks to stew with beef, pork, beans or eggplants to make dishes that would be considered to be on the opposite end of luxury edibles such as bird nest and abalone.

It even has a somewhat inaccurate reputation as a junk food among some of China's more health-conscious population, who are perhaps misled by the ubiquitous use of French fries in fast food.

Nonetheless, the crop has gained a much higher status since January 6, when a symposium co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) discussed strategies to promote it as a staple food just like rice, wheat and corn. For a country with a large population to feed, staple foods are of great strategic significance.

The symposium pointed out that the starch from potatoes could be processed into steamed buns and noodles, mainstays of the average Chinese dining table.

Yu Xinrong, Vice Minister of Agriculture, addressed the symposium. He said that making the potato a staple food is an important move toward implementing the Central Government's decisions on promoting agricultural structural adjustment and sustainable development, safeguarding grain safety and boosting farmers' income.

Participants at the meeting believed that making potato a staple food represented an inevitable decision, and predicted that by the year 2020, more than 50 percent of potatoes grown in the country will be consumed as a staple food.

Grain security

The potato originated from the Andes Mountain Range in South America and was introduced into China in the 17th century.

Currently, China is the largest potato producer in the world, accounting for about one fifth of global potato-planting area and yield, said Liu Yang, a researcher with the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, which is affiliated with the CAAS.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)'s data show that in 2012, China produced 85.92 million tons of potatoes, almost doubling the yield of India, the world's second largest producer.

Making potatoes a staple food is expected to boost China's grain security. The country feeds 22 percent of the world's population while possessing only about 9 percent of the world's arable land, according to Xinhua News Agency.

To ensure grain security, the country has set a "red line" to guarantee its arable land never falls below 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares).

The Ministry of Agriculture predicted that by 2020, the country's demand for grain will exceed 50 billion kg.

Currently, the average per-unit yield of maize, rice and wheat in China has already exceeded the global average, and because of land constraints, it is difficult to improve output further, said Lu Qiudian, a researcher with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Farmers in some wheat-producing provinces are affected by dry weather and have been drawing ground water to irrigate their crops, leading to widespread land subsidence.

Most major rice-producing provinces are in the economically advanced and densely populated southern region of China, where land value is high, and there is little economic incentive for farmers to expand acreage. Rice, which needs a lot of water to grow, can't be grown in dry areas.

Lu said that there is huge growth potential to increase the yield of the potato by investing more in improving technology and species without adding acreage. The average per-unit output of potatoes in China is lower than the world average, and is one third to one half that of developed countries.

1   2   Next  



 
Top Story
-Empowerment Through Infrastructure
-Special Reports: APEC China 2014
-Protection at Home
-A Weaker Union
-Will the 'China Miracle' Continue?
Most Popular
在线翻译
About BEIJINGREVIEW | About beijingreview.com | Rss Feeds | Contact us | Advertising | Subscribe & Service | Make Beijing Review your homepage
Copyright Beijing Review All right reserved