PAKISTAN - While you may love to put salt on your french fries, salt is not always the perfect partner for potato growers. Last week, Netherlands Ambassador Marcel de Vink visited Pakistan for the first-ever harvest of salt-resistant potatoes. A combination of Dutch agricultural innovation and Pakistani entrepreneurship, these potatoes represent a huge step for the potato industry. 

“For a long time, it was not considered possible to grow potatoes in saline conditions. Conventional wisdom was that potatoes could only grow with water that was either fresh or at best moderately saline,” a statement from the Dutch Embassy said.

De Vink says he is truly impressed by the development.  

“These unique potatoes – a prime example of Dutch innovation in agriculture – can enable cultivation in saline areas. This is a great opportunity for Pakistan and the world. I commend MetaMeta, Jaffer Brothers, Salt Farm Texel, the USAID, and the SIDA on the tremendous success of this joint effort,” De Vink said.

With the support of the Securing Water for Food Programme, the USAID, the SIDA, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs tolerant potato varieties were selected and introduced at test locations throughout Pakistan. Planting started early December of last year and farmers could hardly believe that such difficult salt-affected soils (>8 dS/m) and water sources were chosen, according to The Express Tribune. Normally, potatoes would never come up in those conditions.

“The combination of salt-tolerant varieties, adapted agricultural practices, and conjunctive water use resulted in a very acceptable expected yield of 20 tonne of potatoes per hectare,” the Dutch statement said.

“With millions of hectares of salt-affected land, this innovation is a genuine breakthrough,” said Dr. Maqbool of Jaffar Brothers. 

Dr. Van Steenbergen of MetaMeta Research added, “The importance of growing high-value crops like potatoes in hostile environments goes beyond Pakistan.”

Globally, no less than 1 billion hectares of land suffers from different forms of salinity.

Following this year’s encouraging trials, a larger number of locations are being developed to test the salt tolerance and to develop a balanced package of measures.