News January 2008
With its 6 million inhabitants and its 1.75 million square kilometres Libya is sparsely populated (3.4 inhabitants / km2). This can be explained by the fact that Libya mainly consists of desert. The majority of its inhabitants live in the capital Tripoli. By comparison, the total surface area of the Netherlands is 41.5 thousand km2 of which 33.8 thousand km2 consists of land (487 inhabitants / km2). Libya obtains its income mainly from the proceeds of oil.
Potato cultivation in Libya is still in its infancy when you compare it to the cultivation of potatoes in northwest Europe. On average a couple of hectares are grown per farm. There are two crops per year: the winter crop and the spring crop. The winter crop starts in September and ends in December. The spring crop starts from the end of January until the end of May. The average potato yield per hectare is 20 tonnes; however, there are farms that harvest over 40 tonnes / hectare. The Spunta strain is cultivated by 99% of the farmers. Obviously the potatoes are cultivated by means of irrigation.
The farmers sell their potatoes via traders on the local market. There are not many storage facilities which means that the potato price during the harvest is pretty much under pressure. Storage facilities are gradually being built which the farmers can rent a part in order to store their potatoes. This gives the farmers the opportunity to sell their potatoes when the prices are profitable.
Potato sale at a local market
With regard to Libya, Meijer is actively introducing our varieties. This will take some time though, since Spunta is deeply rooted, both with the farmers, the traders and consumers. The consumers are used to the Spunta shape.
Farmers in the field
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