International Day of Potato
Next: May 30, 2027
Eight thousand years and still going.
The story
Where it comes from
The International Day of Potato is one of the newest UN days. Peru, which considers itself the potato's main centre of origin, proposed it, building on a resolution of the FAO Conference of 7 July 2023, and the UN General Assembly adopted it by consensus that December. The first observance was on 30 May 2024. It follows the International Year of the Potato in 2008, and it shows how much one humble tuber does for food security, farmers' incomes and the world's crop diversity.
How it's celebrated
FAO and partner countries hold events on farming, nutrition and the potato's many varieties, and growers, chefs and schools share recipes and know-how. At home it is an easy day to join in: cook a potato dish from another country's kitchen, such as an Indian aloo curry, or try a variety you have never bought before.
Did you know
- The potato was first cultivated around 8000 BC. There are now more than 5,000 varieties, about 4,000 of them native varieties found mostly in the Andes.
- Near Cusco in Peru, local Indigenous communities run a 12,000-hectare Potato Park to protect their own native varieties and farming knowledge.
- China is the world's biggest potato producer, and almost a third of all potatoes are harvested in China and India.
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