A conference on the state of the Irish potato heard yesterday that fewer farmers are growing it as consumer tastes switch to pasta and rice.
Bord Bia said consumption of fresh potatoes had fallen by 12 per cent between 2002 and 2005. However, the average Irish household still buys about 190 kg a year.
Opening the IFA/Teagasc National Potato Conference yesterday, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Trevor Sargent, said research had found there was an image problem with younger people believing potatoes were time-consuming to prepare, fattening and unfashionable.
Nutritionist Paula Mee told the 200 delegates potatoes had a big role in good dietary practices which would prevent disease but myths had to be dispelled.
Research found that 41 per cent of those surveyed thought rice was the healthiest food, 25 per cent thought pasta was healthier and only 27 per cent thought potatoes were the healthiest food.
Of those surveyed, 27 per cent thought potatoes were higher in fat than rice while 47 per cent thought pasta had a higher fat content. She said the study also showed that 41 per cent of people thought potatoes had the highest level of calories compared with 15 per cent who opted for rice and 33 per cent for pasta.
In fact, potatoes had the lowest level of fat at 0.2 per cent compared with rice (2.3 per cent) and pasta (1.2 per cent).
Potatoes also had the lowest calorie count at 126 compared with rice at 248 and pasta at 198.
Irish Farmers' Association president Pádraig Walshe claimed that in this, the International Year of the Potato, unless Irish farmers got an increase of €150 per tonne for their crop, the industry would be wiped out.
The remaining growers, estimated to number just 615, produced 400,000 tonnes from 12,100 hectares. They were being squeezed by the supermarket chains and 80 per cent of the consumer price "disappeared outside the farm gate", Mr Walshe said.
Mr Sargent said he was "four square" behind the IFA's demands for a fair return for their crops.
The conference also heard that growing costs will increase this year because they were no longer allowed to use Simazine and Paraquat to control weeds because of new EU regulations.