TRADE AND MARKETING Growers in the Middle East are looking ahead Eyad Thaler (r) says that of the total Rum Farm acreage, 30 percent is already prepared for the cultivation of seed potatoes. Lawsuit for water Eyad Thaler, the technical manager of Rum Farm, a farm in the heart of this renowned tourist area, knows all about this. The owner of this 5,000 hectare farm is Sabeeh al-Masri, a man of great prestige and influence in the region. He has a thirty-year contract with the authorities to pump up water. The authorities want to force him via a lawsuit to stop pumping up his annual 15 million cubic metres of groundwater. This will have enormous consequences for the cultivation of potatoes, because the growers in the region also grow seed potatoes as a second crop. ‘But that is still a long way off,’ Thaler tells us. Many virus diseases In the 25 years that he has grown potatoes here, the water level has not yet dropped an inch, the reason being that there is an enormous water reservoir under the area. It runs through into SAudi Arabia. Since it flows down towards Jordan, there is not yet a problem where the water supply is concerned. Besides 1,500 hectares of potatoes, Rum Farm now grows At the traditional market in Amman, we saw Al Waffa potatoes for sale for 50 eurocents per kilogram. Potato World 2011 • number 4 11 Pagina 10
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