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International Day of Potato 2025

30 May 2025, Video Message by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General for the International Day of Potato 2025

Language English

Duration 3m22s

Edit Version Full Mix

Video Type Video Message

Date 05/12/2025

File size 369.53 MB

Unique ID UF19YNK

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Script International Day of Potato 2025
Video Message
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General

30 May 2025

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. This year we mark the 2nd observance of the International Day of Potato.

2. Today, we celebrate not just a crop, but a symbol of resilience, adaptability and untapped potential.

3. The potato has nourished millions of people for hundreds of years and continues to shape the course of global agrifood systems.

4. This year’s theme “Shaping history, feeding the future”, reminds us of how far the potato’s remarkable journey has come:

• from its ancient tubers in the Andes,
• through its global expansion via the Columbian Exchange,
• to its tragic role in the Irish Potato Famine,
• and now its rightful place as a top 4 of global nutritious food.

5. The potato contributes to healthy and affordable diets and nutrition, supports the livelihoods of millions, especially small-scale farmers and rural communities.

6. Beyond its historical and cultural significance, potato crops are also highly efficient in their use of land and water as they produce more food with fewer greenhouse gas emissions than many other major crops.

7. Yet, potato production faces serious threats.

8. Climate variability, transboundary pests and diseases, degraded soils and market instability threaten potato production and consumption.

9. We need to strengthen the resilience of the potato value chain to ensure food availability, food accessibility and food affordability.

10. This aligns with FAO’s key objective to transform global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable,

11. Under the overarching guidance of the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – leaving no one behind.

12. This is at the foundation of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31.

13. Let me highlight three important areas of FAO’s work to support potato farmers:

14. First: Equipping farmers to produce more with less through science-based expertise and solutions.

15. Second: Supporting value chain development – through initiatives such as the FAO One Country One Priority Product aimed at helping countries to strengthen agricultural value-added products.

16. And Third: Investing in the next generation of producers and innovators – because at FAO we firmly believe that youth are the future of agriculture and consumption.

17. As FAO marks its 80th anniversary this year, it provides an important opportunity to reaffirm the vital role that the potato plays in fighting hunger, improving livelihoods, and building a better foods future for all.

18. Thank you.

QU Dongyu, FAO Director General - Video

Video messages - Qu Dongyu, FAO Director General

2025 DG Video messages - ALL

05 - May

International Day of Potato 2025

(Standard Video)

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