Observance helps highlight the potato’s importance for global agriculture, economic development, food security and nutrition
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) welcomed the UN’s decision to designate 30 May as International Day of Potato, an opportunity to raise awareness of a crop regularly consumed by billions of people and global importance for food security and nutrition.
The annual observance was championed by Peru, which submitted a proposal for adoption to the UN General Assembly based on an FAO Conference Resolution of July 7, 2023. The impetus for the Day, which builds upon the International Year of Potato that was observed in 2008, originates from the need to emphasise the significant role of the potato in tackling prevalent global issues, such as food insecurity, poverty and environmental threats.
“This International Day will shed light on the significant value of the potato – nutritional, economic, environmental and cultural. It will also highlight the contribution of the potato to global food security, poverty reduction and the livelihoods of millions while emphasising the key role of Indigenous Peoples knowledge and practices,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol.
The Day “will allow us to draw attention to the importance of this ancestral crop in sustaining efforts to reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty; as well as to encourage agricultural development, food security, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functions,” Víctor García Toma, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations told the General Assembly.
