News
About Us
Contact Us

Potato Reading Answers

Bhaskar Das

Sep 30, 2025

Potato Reading Answers contains 6 questions and belongs to the assessment system of the IELTS General Reading test. Potato Reading Answers must be answered within 10 minutes. In this IELTS reading section, question types include: Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

Potato Reading Answers offers a comprehensive overview of the potato, first domesticated 7,000–10,000 years ago in the Andes, spread worldwide after the Spanish introduction to Europe, and is now the fourth-largest food crop, vital globally but toxic in its green or non-tuber parts due to solanine. To practice similar reading tests, candidates can refer to the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

Check: Get 10 Free Sample Papers
Check: Register for IELTS Coaching - Join for Free Trial Class Now

potato reading answers

Topic:

The potato is a source vegetable native to the Americas, a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum, and the plant itself, a persistent in the family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found all over the Americas, from the United States to southern Chile. The potato was initially believed to have been tamed by indigenous peoples of the Americas self-reliantly in several locations, but later genetic testing of the extensive variety of cultivars and wild species outlined a single origin for potatoes.

In the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia, from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex, potatoes were tamed about 7,000–10,000 years ago. In the Andes region of South America, where the potato is indigenous, some close relatives of the potato are cultured. Potatoes were familiarized to Europe from the Americas in the concluding half of the 16th century by the Spanish. Over 99% of currently cultivated potatoes worldwide descended from varieties that initiated in the lowlands of south-central Chile, which have displaced previously widespread varieties from the Andes. Today they are a vital food in many parts of the world and an essential part of much of the world’s food supply.

As of 2014, potatoes were the world’s fourth-largest food crop after maize (corn), wheat, and rice. Subsequent times of selective breeding, there are now over 1,000 different types of potatoes. The importance of the potato as a food source and culinary element differs by region and is still changing. It remains an important crop in Europe, especially Northern and Eastern Europe, where per capita production is still the maximum in the world, while the quickest expansion in production over the past few decades has happened in southern and eastern Asia, with China and India leading the world in overall production as of 2018.

Normal potato tubers that have been grown and kept properly produce glycoalkaloids in amounts small enough to be insignificant to human health, but if green sections of the plant (namely sprouts and skins) are exposed to light, the tuber can gather a high enough concentration of glycoalkaloids to negatively affect human health. Being a nightshade like tomatoes, the vegetative and fruiting parts of the potato comprise the toxin solanine and are not fit for human consumption.

Questions 21-26

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

YES - If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer.

NO - If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer.

NOT GIVEN - If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

21. The wild potato was first devoured by a South American.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Supporting statement: The passage explains where potatoes originated and were domesticated but does not state who first ate them.

Keywords: wild potato, devoured, South American

Keyword Location: Not directly mentioned in the passage

Explanation: The text focuses on domestication and cultivation history, not consumption by specific people. Therefore, the claim cannot be confirmed.

22. Wild potato species can be sporadically found in the Americas.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: "Wild potato species can be found all over the Americas, from the United States to southern Chile."

Keywords: wild potato species, found, Americas

Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, line 2

Explanation: The passage clearly mentions that wild potato species exist across the Americas, supporting the statement.

23. Spanish took potatoes from America to Europe in the latter part of 16th century.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: "Potatoes were familiarized to Europe from the Americas in the concluding half of the 16th century by the Spanish."

Keywords: Europe, Americas, 16th century, Spanish

Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, lines 4–5

Explanation: The statement directly matches the passage, confirming that Spaniards introduced potatoes to Europe in the late 16th century.

24. At Present potato is an indispensable food in many countries.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: "Today they are a vital food in many parts of the world and an essential part of much of the world’s food supply."

Keywords: vital food, many parts of the world, essential

Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, lines 6–7

Explanation: The passage explicitly states potatoes are vital globally, so the answer is YES.

25. The significance of the potato as a nutrition resource and cooking ingredient varies by territory.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: "The importance of the potato as a food source and culinary element differs by region and is still changing."

Keywords: importance, differs by region, culinary element

Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, line 3

Explanation: The text confirms regional variation in the potato’s significance, supporting the statement.

26. Elevated intensity of glycoalkaloids in potato does not impinge humans.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: "…the tuber can gather a high enough concentration of glycoalkaloids to negatively affect human health."

Keywords: glycoalkaloids, negatively affect, human health

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, lines 2–3

Explanation: The passage clearly says high levels of glycoalkaloids harm humans, contradicting the claim.

Check IELTS reading samples:

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

Comments

No comments to show
Practice Paper
Also Check
IELTS Overview
IELTS IELTS Exam Dates
IELTS IELTS Results
IELTS IELTS Writing Task 2
IELTS IELTS Reading
IELTS IELTS Speaking Topics
IELTS IELTS Preparation
IELTS IELTS Listening
IELTS IELTS Exam Pattern
IELTS IELTS Practice Papers
IELTS IELTS Coaching in India
IELTS IELTS Cutoff
IELTS News