SPAIN
The Spanish potato industry launched a promotional campaign in May designed to stop declining potato consumption. According to Jose Ramon Aguado, president of the Spanish Potato Forum, the seven-month media campaign by the country’s potato producers, processors and distributors is aimed at promoting consumption of new potatoes, emphasizing their flavour qualities as well as their nutrition value and other benefits.
Consumers in Spain are eating 35 per cent fewer potatoes than they were 25 years ago.
Spaniards consumed 37 kilos per person per year in 1990, a figure that now stands at around 24 kilos per person per year, Aguado says. The country’s potato producing area has also shrunk considerably, declining 30 per cent in the past decade. Aguado maintains many factors are contributing to the decline in potato consumption and production, such as rising prices, a lack of profitability for producers, and the fact product might not always have the best quality.
Source: Fresh Plaza
THE NETHERLANDS
A small field on an island off the Netherlands’ northern coast promises one answer to the problem of how to feed the world’s ever-growing population: potatoes and other crops that grow in saltwater. Every day, swathes of farmland somewhere in the world become unusable because of salty soil, but farmers on windswept Texel are finding solutions using traditional methods.
The team headed by farmer Mark van Rijsselberghe has planted around 30 types of potato and their approach is simple: anything that dies in the saline environment is abandoned, and anything that lives “we try to follow up on,” says Van Rijsselberghe. “It’s faster.” The experiments do not just target potatoes, but also look at how other crops grow in saltwater, including carrots, strawberries, onions and lettuce.
The potatoes grown on Texel taste sweeter than those grown on normal land, because the plant produces more sugars to compensate for the salty environment, says van Rijsselberghe. The salt absorbed by the plant stays in the leaves, not in the flesh.
The world loses just under 5,000 acres of agricultural land a day to salt-induced degradation in 75 countries, caused by bad or absent irrigation, according to the UN’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health. The problem today affects an area the size of France — about 62 million hectares or 20 per cent of the world’s irrigated lands, up from 45 million hectares in the early 1990s.
These “salt” potatoes could transform the lives of thousands of farmers in affected regions and, in the long term, those of around 250 million people who live on salt-afflicted soil. Countries ranging from Egypt to Bangladesh and India have already asked for advice on planting their own salt-proof crops.
Source: Physics.org
PACIFIC ISLANDS
Almost 70 new varieties of potato and sweet potato are being made available to Pacific Island countries and territories, to improve food security across the region. The Fiji-based Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePACT) has received 42 new potato varieties as tissue cultures that are sub-tropical, heat-tolerant and resistant to some potato viruses. The Centre also received 27 advanced hybrid sweet potato varieties.
Potato is becoming one of the most consumed crops in the Pacific Islands region, with some countries and territories beginning to grow potatoes, while Fiji imports many potatoes every year. The new potato varieties originate from Peru, while the sweet potato tissue cultures are also mainly from Peru but also from Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador. The new crops were acquired from the Peru-based International Potato Center.
A growing demand in the Pacific region for disease-resistant and nutrient-rich crop diversity that is suitable for a tropical climate has led CePACT to source new, improved varieties from its partners in the Consultative Group of International Agriculture Research. Accessing new, adaptable and resilient hybrids will assist Pacific countries and territories with import substitution to improve food security.
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community
ASIA
Potato Corner, a leading vendor of flavoured french fries with hundreds of locations in operation worldwide, is expanding its operations in Asia. The Philippines-based company is planning to open 60 new stores in its home country as well as set up 10 new stores in Indonesia this year.
At present, there are over 550 Potato Corner stores globally. Of this total, 90 are located outside the Philippines in markets such as Indonesia, Australia, Indonesia, Panama, United Arab Emirates and the United States. Aside from opening new stores, the retailer also plans to enter new markets amid inquiries from individuals who have tried Potato Corner’s french fries during their stay in the Philippines.
“Many of the inquiries we received from overseas are from young individuals who want to become entrepreneurs and were our customers before,” says Potato Corner CEO Jose Magsaysay Jr., adding there are ongoing talks with potential partners for Potato Corner in China, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico and Spain.
Source: The Philippine Star
