The Potato of the Future: Opportunities and Challenges in Sustainable Agri-food Systems

Abstract

In the coming decades, feeding the expanded global population nutritiously and sustainably will require substantial improvements to the global food system worldwide. The main challenge will be how to produce more food with the same or fewer resources and waste less. Food security has four dimensions: food availability, food access, food use and quality, and food stability. Among several other food sources, the potato crop is one that can help match all these constraints worldwide due to its highly diverse distribution pattern, and its current cultivation and demand, particularly in developing countries with high levels of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. After an overview of the current situation of global hunger, food security, and agricultural growth, followed by a review of the importance of the potato in the current global food system and its role played as a food security crop, this paper analyses and discusses how potato research and innovation can contribute to sustainable agri-food systems comparing rural and industrial agri-food systems with reference to food security indicators. It concludes with a discussion about the challenges for sustainable potato cropping enhancement considering the needs to increase productivity in rural-based potato food systems that predominate in low-income countries, while promoting better resource management and optimization in industrial-based agri-food systems considering factors such as quality, diversity of products, health impacts, and climate change effects. Research and innovation options and policies that could facilitate the requirements of both rural and industrial potato-based agri-food systems are described.

Keywords: Food security; Multidisciplinary approaches; Nutrition; Sustainable intensification; Value chain; Yield gap.

Fig. 1

Dichotomy and performance outputs (P) of rural and industrial potato agri-food systems, based on genotypes (G), environment (E), management factors (M), and societal requirements and services (S) as present in Eq. (1); genotypes, management factors, and performance outputs are depicted as continuums, with extremes showing typical elements that characterize rural (left) or industrial (right) agri-food systems and combinations of both systems in-between

Fig. 2

Potato distribution worldwide, harvested area (You et al. ; FAO 2016b)

Fig. 3

World food consumption per year for the four main nutritious crops. Asterisk indicates milled equivalent. Source: FAOSTAT, New Food Balances, last update February 19, 2020

Fig. 4

Potato supply 1961–2018. AFR, Africa; ASA, Asia; LAC, Latin America and the Caribbean; EUR, Europe; NAM, North America. Source: FAOSTAT Crops, last update June 15, 2020. (a) Global potato production. (b) Potato areas harvested

Fig. 5

Relative development of potato production and food supply (kg/capita/year) in Africa (a) China (b), and India (c). Period 1961–2018. Source: FAOSTAT, Crops last update June 15, 2020, and Food Balances last update February 19, 2020

Fig. 6

Potato production in Europe and Ex-USSR* 1961–2019. Source: FAOSTAT Crops, last Update December 22, 2020. *Ex-USSR (include European and Asia countries)

Fig. 7

European share of global exports for potato (fresh and seed) and French fries 1980–2018. Source: FAOSTAT, TRADE, last Update August 26, 2020

Fig. 8

The future of potato production adapted from Rosegrant et al.

Fig. 9

Global distribution of potato yields (tonnes ha⁻¹), FAOSTAT, 2014–2016

Fig. 10

Total potato releases with abiotic and biotic tolerance/resistant traits in Asia between 1980 and 2014. Notes: Only high tolerance/resistant category is shown. Medium and low tolerance/resistant and susceptible categories are not shown. Source: Gatto et al. (2018). a Release with abiotic traits. b Releases with biotic traits