How did the potato make a comeback to become a staple food in China?

For hundreds of years, the potato has always been an everyday dish on the dining tables of ordinary Chinese people. However, since the beginning of this year, as China proposed expanding potato planting area and gradually making it a staple food crop to safeguard national food security, the unassuming potato has begun to step into the spotlight, drawing much attention from the public and the outside world.

At the World Potato Congress held in Yanqing, Beijing, from the 28th to the 30th, many potato industry experts and enterprises said that China's market for potato staple food products and industrial development is broad and holds huge potential, but there are still many shortcomings, such as a lack of improved varieties, relatively low levels of production and utilization, and relatively high processing costs. To truly turn the potato from a “vegetable” into a “staple food” will still require strenuous effort.

Does making the potato a staple food mean there is not enough food to eat?

At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture's plan to promote the potato as a staple food suddenly “multiplied the status” of this affordable, everyday ingredient. During this World Potato Congress, the Ministry of Agriculture once again stated that it would speed up the development of potato staple food products and their industrialization, and promote the shift of the potato from a non-staple food consumption to staple food consumption, bringing the potato renewed attention. Relevant experts believe that behind the development of potato staple food products may lie a major change in China's food security pattern over thousands of years -- the potato may become China's fourth major staple food variety after the three major staple crops of wheat, rice and corn. Along with this attention, many people also have doubts: does treating the potato as a staple food mean that China no longer has enough food to eat?

In fact, data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that for more than 10 years, China's grain output has increased year after year, with ample supply. In 2014, national grain production achieved an “eleventh consecutive increase,” reaching a record 60710 million tons. Although warehouses and granaries are full, factors such as population growth and rapid urbanization are all driving continued growth in grain demand, and the future grain supply and demand situation remains far from optimistic. It is estimated that by 2020, China's grain demand increment will be more than 100 billion jin.

Under rigid demand for grain, the potato, with multiple advantages such as wide adaptability, cold and drought tolerance, and low water and fertilizer requirements, has gained favor. Last year, China's potato planting area reached 5570 thousand hectares, with fresh potato output of more than 95 million tons. Both planting area and output accounted for about one quarter of the world's total, and China has become the world's largest potato producer and consumer.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture's plan, in the future the potato planting area will be expanded according to local conditions. On the premise of not crowding out the three major staple crops, the potato area will be expanded to 150 million mu, and the per-mu yield will be raised to more than 2 tons. It is predicted that after the potato becomes a staple food, it can provide 400 billion jin of grain supply in the future.

“In addition to strong adaptability and being filling, compared with any other grain crop, the potato is also more comprehensive and balanced in nutrition. It contains 18 kinds of amino acids needed by the human body, as well as large amounts of cellulose and trace elements.” said Xie Conghua, a professor at Huazhong Agricultural University and a potato research expert. “Making the potato a staple food will provide more safeguards for China's food security and also allow people to eat more healthily.”

From non-staple food to staple food, how many hurdles does the potato still have to clear?

From non-staple food to staple food means processing the potato into staple food products such as steamed buns, noodles and rice noodles. However, a reporter's investigation found that this involves multiple links, including potato breeding and research and development of staple food products, cultivation and production and processing technology research and development, and quality monitoring systems. At present, China still faces relatively large constraints in many aspects.

First, there is a lack of improved varieties, and there are few specialized seed potatoes suitable for processing into whole flour, with unstable quality.

Potato whole flour is the “whole-nutrient flour” obtained by dehydrating and drying potatoes. It is equivalent to the “flour” of the potato, a high-quality grain that is nutritionally comprehensive and easy to store, and can remain unspoiled for 15 years. However, although there are many potato varieties, only a few with high dry matter content can be processed into whole flour.

“For many years, the potato chips and French fries we ate were all imported, and they could not be made domestically. An important reason is that the varieties are not up to standard.” said Liang Xisen, chairman of Xisen Potato Industry Group, the largest seed potato enterprise in China. “No matter how good a variety is, after being planted for two years it degenerates. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously cultivate generation after generation of excellent seeds through scientific and technological research and development in order to increase yield.”

According to a survey by the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, at present only a few of China's potato varieties are suitable for distinctive staple food development, and specialized varieties for fried food processing and whole flour processing are still dominated entirely by introduced foreign varieties. Moreover, different staple food products have different requirements for potato varieties, so cultivating more varieties of different ecological types suitable for processing different staple food products is the key.