From John Garratt, University of York
York
Pearce states that “the potato is the best package of nutrition in the world”. I have used his figures on yield together with figures for the energy and protein content of potatoes, rice and wheat which I took from a data book.
As I expected, rice has the highest yield in terms of energy (18 per cent more than potatoes), but the lowest for protein. Wheat is about 8 per cent lower in energy per hectare than potatoes, and almost exactly the same for protein.
Given the enormous variation in world values of crop yield per hectare, surely the differences between potatoes and wheat are insignificant. The relative value of rice and potatoes depends on whether energy or protein is the limiting nutrient in a diet.
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