Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/622156
WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 31 Water for Food, an initiative backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the South African government. The project has allowed Salt Farm Texel to team up with international water consultancy firm MetaMeta and Pakistan's Jaffer Agro Services test its potatoes in salt-affected soils in Pakistan. Potatoes are a major part of many Pakistanis' diets, and the partnership sees an immense opportunity before them. "Aside from home consumption, there is a growing chip industry in Pakistan," says Maqbool Akhtar, head of technical and business development at Jaffer Agro Services. "So there is a lot of incentive for Pakistani growers to produce these varieties." The Middle East and Far East have seen major shifts in consumer preferences in the last decade, with Western snacks and fast foods making inroads. This has increased pressure in those areas of the world to increase production of crops such as potatoes. "Salt-tolerant varieties would decrease the fight for good, fertile soil," says Martin van Beusekom, social business developer at MetaMeta. "The salt-tolerant potato is showing that it can reach a very attractive level of productivity even in salt-affected soil and that it can compete with varieties in fertile-soil, sweet-water areas. In that way there is a market for it." The researchers are quick to note that salt- tolerant agriculture is in no way meant to replace traditional growing. "If they grow potatoes in an area with plenty of water Dutch ambassador to Pakistan Marcel Vink, left, and Jaffer Agro Services CEO Pierre Louis Dupont taste salt-tolerant potato in Pakistan's Punjab District. Photo by Nabeela Ahmad, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Potato seedlings peek through the salty soil at the 2,500-acre Nawazabad Farm in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Photo by Arjen de Vos, Salt Farm Texel Manual planting of salt- tolerant potatoes at Nawazabad Farm in Pakistan's Sindh province. Photo by Arjen de Vos, Salt Farm Texel