Agricultural Lecture in Kuwait on Potato Crop Importance

The Burgan Agricultural Company organized a lecture on potato cultivation at the Jumeirah Hotel (Al-Masila Beach) last Monday evening, featuring Dutch potato expert Jan Hederk van der Zee, agricultural engineer Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Fraih, and his son Badr. Al-Siyasa attended, participated, and listened to questions from interested parties—including agriculturalists, farmers, and the esteemed farmer Umm Talal Al-Shamali—and her answers, which provided important information about the potato crop, which is vital for feeding millions of people worldwide. There are currently about five thousand varieties of potatoes grown in various parts of the world. Here in Kuwait, we are familiar with only a few varieties, most notably the Spunta, which we grow in Abdali and Wafra. Potatoes were first discovered decades ago in South America and later became known worldwide thanks to the mass production of their seeds by major American and European companies. Billions of people around the world consume potatoes in various ways, and they are now the fourth largest agricultural crop in the world after corn, wheat, and rice. Potatoes are grown from seeds, and after 120 days, they are harvested from the ground to be cleaned and eaten. There are also varieties harvested after just 90 or even 80 days that are never grown from seeds. Of course, collecting, packaging, storing, and transporting seeds to countries near and far is very costly. Global potato companies, particularly in the Netherlands, employ an army of researchers, and producing a new variety of seed potatoes takes ten years of continuous effort and research using tissue culture (new) and seed potatoes (traditional). The Netherlands alone produces 600,000 tons of potatoes per year from 1 million tons of seed potatoes, and the natural production rate is ten tons of potatoes per ton of seed potatoes. For your information, the Netherlands exports potato seed potatoes to about eighty-five countries, with the value now reaching 2 million euros annually. The potatoes sold in Kuwaiti markets are imported for most of the year and mostly come from Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan, and Syria, and most of them are unfit for human consumption. and in some European countries, much of it is not even accepted as animal feed. For your information, the best potatoes currently available on the market come from Lebanon, and the worst come from Pakistan. The people of Kuwait should be aware of this and should rely on consuming potatoes produced on their own farms in Al-Wafra and Al-Abdali, as these are the best—fresh and clean—but the problem is that they are only available for three or four months a year. Kuwaiti potatoes—that is, those grown in Kuwait—according to agricultural engineer Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Farih, are mostly of a high-quality, clean variety. Based on observations, Kuwait has succeeded in cultivating them, so we are in good standing, as is Saudi Arabia. and we recommend planting top-quality imported potato seeds once a year using clean, fresh water and a drip irrigation system, without overusing chemical fertilizers. We also recommend always experimenting with new varieties... We are not very surprised to learn that a ton of seed potatoes in Kuwait’s well-known soil yields 16 tons, but we are surprised when we hear that it yields more than that—20 to 22 tons. In Europe, we usually get ten tons per ton, so what matters to us is quality first, then quantity—as stated by the Dutch expert lecturing here. Growing potatoes from local seed requires good storage conditions that are difficult to achieve in most Arab countries; therefore, growing them from imported seed is preferable. In the Netherlands, we have around 900 potato producers, large companies for seed production, and even larger companies for mechanized cultivation. This is no surprise, as the future of potato cultivation, consumption, and production is promising, fertile, and vast. For reference, per capita potato consumption in Belarus reaches 1,994 kilograms per year, and in the Netherlands, 90 kilograms per year. I hear from my friend, Engineer Badr Al-Fraih, that this figure reaches 30 kilograms per year for consumers in Kuwait and Arab countries. The potato is a nutritious fruit containing 80 percent water and 20 percent vitamins and nutrients essential for the human body. Consequently, many countries are trying to rely on it to feed their populations, as is currently the case in Bangladesh. China is considered the largest producer of potatoes, given its massive population; its production of potatoes for consumption and processing reaches about 73 million tons annually, and everyone is encouraged to expand potato cultivation because, compared to other crops like rice, for example, it does not require a lot of fresh water, and the water you give to the potatoes is returned to you. In fact, growing alfalfa or clover requires more water than potato seeds do. We are making serious efforts to develop new potato varieties that require less fresh water, especially for processing, as potatoes intended for processing must be dry—containing little water and little sugar. Drip irrigation for potato seeds is better than sprinkler irrigation using center-pivot systems. and in Saudi Arabia, where potato cultivation is steadily and continuously advancing each year, they irrigate by sprinkling, but they farm on vast areas and plant imported first-grade or elite seeds from our factory, and they increase the rate of fertilization, which leads to increased moisture and more diseases in the potatoes. They increase nitrogen in the soil to avoid the problems associated with sprinkler irrigation, such as the many serious potato diseases, most notably scab. In the event of a nematode outbreak in the fields, nematode-resistant potato varieties should be used; these are available from us but at higher prices. and it is preferable not to plant the same field more than three consecutive times on the same farm with the same variety. For valuable and interesting information about the global potato crop... We may feature a follow-up in an upcoming issue of “Agriculture and Farmers” from “Al-Siyasa,” featuring agricultural engineer Badr Al-Fraih, who prefers planting imported late-season potato seeds at the beginning of the Gregorian year in Kuwait. Wishing you all the best for the coming year.