Solanum tuberosum – the potato - will have its year in 2008. The UN is trying to wean developing countries off rice and persuade them to adopt the potato as a staple food. Potatoes beat rice on most measures. They need less water and less space to produce a crop. They also grow faster, yield more food and have a far greater nutritional value than a comparable quantity of rice grains.
Nutritional value
- Potato (medium-sized baked potato, 173g): 160 calories;vitamin C (30% of RDA), calcium (2% of RDA) and iron (10% of RDA
- Wholegrain rice (for equivalent 173g): 169 calories;iron (1% of RDA)
- Potato: crop takes 90-100 days
- Rice: crop takes 120-140 days
- Potato requires much less water and land to grow than rice
- Potato yields more food per acre per unit of time than rice
