Villagers harvest potatoes in Panuti. The potato is now Nepal's second staple food crop, after rice, and per capita consumption has almost doubled since 1990, to 51 kg a year. Potatoes are widely grown all over the country, from below 100m altitude in the south to as high as 4,000m in the northern mountain regions. The tuber is particularly favoured by farmers in the high hill areas (roughly 1,800 to 3,000m), as it is more productive than rice and maize, and the cool climate is well suited to production of seed tubers for sale at lower altitudes. .