Potatoes gained a particular importance in Ireland, where rural overpopulation made their intensive cultivation irresistibly attractive. By the early 1840s, nearly a third of arable land on the island was devoted to growing potatoes, a proportion more than twice that of the next most potato-friendly country, Belgium. Daily per capita consumption of potatoes in Ireland was estimated at more than two kilos, meaning that many people were effectively using it as their only means of nutrition.
