UN Aims to Raise Potatoes' Appeal(2/2)

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" class="hjdict" word="rotation" target=_blank>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.

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当前，国际贸易交易的土豆仅占土豆产量的6%，因此土豆价格由各个地方自行制定。土豆是一种良好的营养来源，而且农民可以将它与谷类作物轮种。

联合国世界粮食项目称土豆几乎可以在任何气候条件下生长。它们不需要很多的水。并且专家指出，每公顷产出的土豆提供的食物比大米或小麦都多。

直到二十世纪九十年代早期，大多数土豆都种植于欧洲、北美以及前苏联。人均而言，欧洲人仍然是食用土豆最多的。但是，联合国食品及农业组织（FAO）称，亚洲、非洲以及拉丁美洲的土豆产量飞增。

FAO说发展中国家在2005年首次比发达国家种植更多的土豆。同年，一个由美国人领导的研究小组试图解决土豆起源的争论。他们的报告指出，现在所生产的所有土豆都一同起源于秘鲁的南部。最早的证据表明7000多年前农民就开始从野生植物中培育土豆。

相关链接：International Year of the Potato

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