Re: In which countries is potato considered to be a staple food?

The FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) has lots of potato statistics, 
which indicate that potatoes are very important in many countries, even Asian 
countries where rice is commonly considered the main staple crop. I know of no 
hard and fast rule based on minimum potato crop area or minimum potato yield 
in a country to declare that it is a staple crop for that country. You might 
want to set your own standard. From the statistics, you cannot necessarily 
tell how the potato crop is used. Some may be exported, used as animal feed, 
used industrially or made into vodka. Potato is clearly one the top five 
staple crops in the world. 

It is definitely a staple crop in the U.S. where potatoes are eaten in many 
ways: French fries, potato chips, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, potato 
bread, scalloped potatoes, tater tots, potato pancakes, hash browns, vodka, 
etc. 

For 2003, the FAO lists 156 countries with potato harvests. By hectares of 
potatoes, the leading producers are:

China 4,501,667  
Russian Federation 3,171,990 
Ukraine 1,600,000 
India 1,337,200 
Poland 765,771 
Belarus 524,400 
United States of America 505,980 

Notice that the United States is a distant seventh but is clearly a major 
consumer of potatoes. Area is not necessarily the best measure of yield, which 
the FAO also provides

Use the first FAO webpage cited below to find all sorts of potato statistics. 
You can also compare potato to other staple crops such as maize or corn, wheat 
and rice.

United States of America production in 2003 in Mt (Mega ton) was: 

Corn  256,904,560 
Wheat  63,589,820 
Potato 20,821,930 
Rice    9,033,610

Mega means million. A metric ton is 1,000 kilograms.

You can also search google.com for potato per capita and find some interesting 
statistics. For example, the last website in the references gives per capita 
potato consumption of 14 kg/year/person in 1995-97 for developing countries 
compared to 86 kg/year/person in Europe and 63 kg/year/person in North 
America. 

Assuming a kg of potatoes has 4 calories per gram means it contains 4,000 
calories, which is close to over 1.5 days worth for an average adult. 
Therefore, in North America, potatoes provide about three months worth of 
calories per year according to the 63 kg/year/person.

References



FAO Database


Potato Area Harvested by Country in 2003 in Hectares


Potato Facts