Ukraine

картопля

Year
2007
Production
21 056 400 tons
Harvested area
3 587 428 acres
Yield
5.86 tons/acre

Source: FAOSTAT

Although potatoes have been cultivated in Ukraine since the 18th century, the crop adapted slowly to the Ukrainian climate and was initially used mainly to produce starch and alcohol. It was only during the 20th century that the crop came to be widely cultivated for food, to the point that it now revered as the country's "second bread", and potato-filled perogie dumplings are a favourite national dish.

Today Ukraine is the world's No. 4 producer of potatoes, after China, the Russian Federation and India, and consumes per capita a very high 320 lb a year. Around half of the country's 3.7 million acres of potato farms are located on the black soils of the forest-steppe zone in central Ukraine, although the best yields are obtained in the Polesye wetlands of the north.

Production in 2004 reached a record 22.8 million tons, with average yields of around 5.9 tons per acre. Despite its great production volumes, however, Ukraine is not a potato exporter: a large part of the crop is lost each year to pests - mainly the Colorado potato beetle - and inadequate storage.