China: More Chinese take a liking to potatoes
Potato buns are among the various potato-based versions of traditional Chinese offerings, including fried dough twists and mooncakes. Currently, foods made from potatoes are more popular than before in China.
The changes have come about as China began boosting the total potato cultivation acreage, making the tuber one of the country’s top staples to better ensure food security under the pressure of dwindling farmland, water and labour assets, among other issues. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, China will have more than 6.67 million hectares of potato planting areas by 2020.
As the government campaign develops, more companies are taking a bigger slice of the market. The booming potato industry is also benefiting farmers. A farmer in Dingxi said that in the past an irregularly shaped potato could not fetch a good price, and would be used to feed livestock or even discarded. "But now such potatoes have a place in the market thanks to the rapid development of the potato-processing industry.”
Since 2015, China has selected more than 10 potato varieties suitable for processing into foodstuffs, and developed more than 300 potato-based versions of such foods.
English.eastday.com quoted a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences as saying: "Eating potatoes can help the Chinese form healthier dietary habits and ensure food security.”
Fuente: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/191562/More-Chinese-take-a-liking-to-potatoes
