AgroLibya 2010: Food Security for All

On 21-24 June the 4th Libyan International Agriculture and Marine Fishery Exhibition AgroLibya was held in Tripoli. NedaLibya participated with its own stand where we had the pleasure of receiving many guests, amongst whom Eng. Abdel Majeed Algaud, the Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Agriculture, Marine & Animal Wealth.

Also this year Alfred Rol, International Sales Manager of Dacom, came over to personally introduce the Dacom Agri Yield Management System to the Libyan public. Among the guests to attend his lecture 'Agri Yield Management, The next revolution in agriculture' were many Libyans of the agricultural sector as well as the esteemed Mr. Bart von Bartheld, The Netherlands Ambassador to Libya. In his lecture, Mr. Rol highlighted the possibilities of the Dacom system to help farmers maximize their yields through the economically sound and responsible use of agri-inputs like chemicals, water and nutrients. By using Agri Yield Management, farmers can save 30% chemicals and 50% water; an achievement surely close to the heart of this year's main theme of AgroLibya: Food Security For All.

Potatoes: A World of Variety

Quite a lot of visitors enquired about the variety of potatoes within the Libyan market. 'Why do we see only Spunta?' was a question we often heard. NedaLibya's goal is exactly this: to bring more variety into the Libyan potato market.

Growing different varieties with different harvest times can give farmers an economical advantage. The already well known variety Mondial for example can be planted early, thus giving farmers a head start. And the new variety Sylvana, which is medium early, has a shorter growing season than Spunta. As a result, it needs less water and can be harvested earlier.

A broader range of varieties will also provide variety for the tastebuds, giving customers a choice of tasty table potatoes as well as potatoes for processing into french fries and crisps. The all time Libyan favourite Spunta for example is not especially suited for processing, as its relatively low dry matter content makes for soft and wet french fries with a relatively high fat content. As visitors of our stand could experience, especially adapted varieties such as Sagitta and Voyager produce dry & crispy french fries. Another important advantage of new varieties such as Sylvana and Sifra is that they  have a higher disease resistance in comparison to Spunta, whilst giving the same good yields Spunta farmers are accustomed to. To view the different varieties presented at our stand, as well as an impression of the event, visit our Photo Gallery.

We thank everyone for their shown interest and would like to point out that next year's edition of AgroLibya is programmed to take place under FAO registration, and at the earlier time of March 2011.