The United Nations has declared two thousand eight the International Year of the Potato. There is even a Web site to help bring more attention to the world’s third most important food crop, after rice and wheat: potato2008.org.

The world produced three hundred twenty million tons of the vegetable last year, about the same as in two thousand five. The top five producers were China, Russia, India, Ukraine and the United States. India hopes to double production in the next five years.

Officials in Bangladesh say that country produced a record eight million tons this season. Prices for rice, the main food crop, have doubled in Bangladesh in the past year. Potatoes now cost much less than rice.

Yet potatoes are not an especially popular food choice in Bangladesh. The government hopes that will change. And some Bangladeshis may have no choice. Soldiers are now being served potatoes as part of their daily food.

The International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, says potatoes could offer better food security for at least twenty Asian countries.

International trade in potatoes currently represents only about six percent of production, so prices are set locally. Potatoes are a good source of nutrients. And farmers can plant them in rotation with grain crops.

The United Nations World Food Program says potatoes can grow in almost any climate. They do not require very much water. And experts say potatoes can produce more food per hectare than wheat or rice.

Until the early nineteen nineties, most potatoes were grown in Europe, North America and the former Soviet republics. Person for person, Europeans still eat the most potatoes. But the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says production has increased sharply in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The F.A.O. says developing countries grew more potatoes than developed countries for the first time in two thousand five.

That same year, an American-led research team tried to settle the debate over where potatoes came from. They reported that all potatoes today have a single origin in southern Peru. The earliest evidence suggested that farmers developed potatoes from wild plants more than seven thousand years ago.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson.

知识扩展：2008国际土豆年

联合国10月18日正式推出“2008国际土豆年”活动。这项活动将突出土豆在提高食品安全和减少贫困中所扮演的重要角色。

尽管东西方的饮食和烹饪文化千差万别，但是如果要在它们之中找到一个交集点的话，那么大概非土豆莫属了，因为，在世界各国几乎都可以看到用土豆做成的美味菜肴。不仅如此，联合国还在10月18日正式推出“2008国际土豆年”活动。

土豆的“优点”

作为世界三大口粮之一的土豆，在全球干旱越来越严重的今天，无疑已成为人们膳食中不可或缺的“主角”。

土豆富含维生素C和钾，能够帮助大大减少因营养不良而死亡的人数。近20年来，中国已成为世界第一大土豆生产国，领先于俄罗斯、欧洲和美国。这些都曾是土豆生产量最大、也是目前消费最多的国家和地区。

豆既是蔬菜，也是粮食，它不仅富含蛋白质，而且维生素含量是所有的粮食作物里面最全的，人体必需但自身不能合成的8种必须氨基酸它也都有。有营养学家曾经做过实验，148克土豆（大土豆一个，小土豆四五个），每天一份，就基本上能满足维生素和营养的需求。

土豆不宜做零食

但是，从食品安全的角度来说，土豆不是一种好的零食。中国农业大学食品学院副教授范志红指出，土豆高温加热之后，特别容易形成“丙烯酰胺”类有毒物质，所以炸薯片是这种毒物含量最高的食品，炸薯条也有这种麻烦。所以，土豆类脆片、油炸片、薯条之类零食都要格外小心，每天不要超过25克。
幸好，家常蒸煮炖炒的加热温度不超过120℃，所以不会产生任何有害物质。因此炖土豆、炒土豆、蒸土豆等都可以放心食用。