JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is not only producing best potato varieties, but has also now been exporting them to other parts of the Gulf on an increasing scale. “We have been exporting home grown choicest potato varieties to nearby Gulf states,” Gobar Naser Al-Bishi, owner of Jeddah-based Al-Bishi Est. told the media yesterday.
Al-Bishi, speaking jointly with Henk Holtslag, export manager of Stet Holland, which grows some established varieties of potatoes in the Netherlands, said: “We are growing 25,000 tons of Class A variety of potatoes on 1,300 hectares of our farmland at Wadi Dawasi, 650 km southeast of Riyadh, which meets part of the requirement of domestic market and also contributes to the Kingdom’s exports to elsewhere in the Gulf, Lebanon and other countries in the region.
“We have been experimenting with new varieties with their seeds being imported from Holland and have been successful in producing them on our farm. Jabbar is the latest variety we are introducing now after successfully experimenting with Bellini and other varieties,” said Al-Bishi whose company is involved in trading vegetables and fruit. “Growing best quality potatoes is a thrilling experience but costly and yet we are pursuing this as our contribution to the Kingdom’s march in farm production.” Holtslag said his company has an ongoing collaboration with the Al-Bishi establishment under which top varieties of seed potatoes are sent here for cultivation. “Our company grows seed potatoes on its 1,100 hectare land in Holland and as much as 40,000 tons are exported the world over including the Kingdom,” he said. Bellini, Arturia, Desiree, Hativa, Safari and Triplo are among the seed potato varieties grown across Holland. “The seed potato varieties exported to the Kingdom are such that they meet the local climatic requirements,” he added.
Potato cultivation was non-existent in Saudi Arabia prior to the mid-1970s, although the crop’s growing popularity was reflected in rapidly rising imports since 1978. It was then that the Ministry of Agriculture and Water negotiated an agreement with the Netherlands establishing the Saudi Potato Development Program, which initiated experimental trials in Qassim and Khang. Since then production has expanded rapidly. This expansion has been due in part to state price supports and subsidization of seed and other inputs.
The area around Riyadh and Buraidah, about 300 km to the northwest, accounts for about 35 percent of Saudi production. The area south of as Sulayyil produces another 10 percent. Minor producing areas include Madinah, Hail, Tabuk, Hofuf and Dhahran.