The potato now has an International Day

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) welcomed the UN’s decision to designate 30 May as International Potato Day, an opportunity to raise awareness of a crop regularly consumed by billions of people and of global importance for food security and nutrition.

The annual celebration was championed by Peru, which submitted a proposal for adoption to the UN General Assembly based on an FAO Conference Resolution of 7 July 2023. The impetus for establishing this Day stems from the need to emphasise the significant role of potatoes in addressing prevailing global problems 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 potatoes to global food security, poverty reduction and the livelihoods of millions of people, while emphasising the key role of indigenous peoples’ knowledge and practices,” said FAO Assistant 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 promote agricultural development, food security, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functions,” the Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations told the General Assembly.