There’s an article today in The Boston Globe on efforts by Chinese agricultural scientists to encourage farmers to plant potatoes as a way to solve a potential crisis in food production for the world’s largest nation.
From the Boston Globe:
In the land of rice, China is looking at an unlikely tool for maintaining growth and social harmony: the potato.
The Chinese government has begun ramping up research, production, and training related to the humble spud, and hopes are high that it could help alleviate poverty and serve as a bulwark against famine.
The challenge of feeding a growing nation on a shrinking supply of arable land while confronting severe water shortages has long been a major concern here. China has to feed one-fifth of the world’s population on one-tenth of its arable land, and the nation’s expanding cities are consuming farmland at breakneck speed. China estimates that by 2030, when its population is expected to level off at roughly 1.5 billion, it will need to produce an additional 100 million tons of food each year.
It’s a story with a long history.
Beginning in the 16th century, crops from North and South America such as maize, the potato (in