The Salt Solution- a new Dutch product?

It may be possible to grow crops on saline agricultural land. Various media outlets have paid attention to it in the past week. Phones rang continuously for Marc van Rijsselberghe from Zilt Proefbedrijf Texel, which announced the news. He was even given time to tell his story on Koffietijd, a Dutch women’s television programme. There, he talked about The Salt Solution: an innovative and sustainable agricultural project in Bangladesh. That country is dealing with enormous salinisation. Tests done by the Zilt Proefbedrijf Texel show that certain strains can be cultivated on saline soil, on the condition that the salty water is applied directly to the roots. 

The press is enthusiastic for his story, but Dutch entrepreneurs still need more incentives, according to Marc. Cultivating crops that tolerate salt can be placed under development aid, but it could also be big business. “Experts have mentioned an amount of two billion in sales to me if enterprising agrarian partners in the Netherlands start taking this question seriously. We are asked for help daily, from countries that are poverty-stricken, but also from countries that are filthy rich. I recently received a request for 20 million saline-tolerant trees, from a country where water is more expensive than oil. Arboriculturists n the Netherlands appear not to be interested.” There is also not much interest from seed improvement companies or agrarian entrepreneurs. “A number of breeding stations have asked us to see if their crops are salt-tolerant, but others have no interest in that.”

Cultivators along the coast, and especially in the Zeeland province, are struggling with the salinisation of farmlands. Both in Eastern Zeeland Flanders and along the Veerse Meer (Lake Veere), cultivators are experimenting with growing saline vegetables. However, cultivating saline carrots, onions or potatoes in the Netherlands is not feasible according to Marc. He personally cultivates salty potatoes on Texel for a niche market. “Cultivating potatoes under salty circumstances is very tricky. I can sell them because people are willing to pay more for the typically salty flavour, but I actually mostly use these potatoes as promotional material. The potato is a fine medium to show that cultivation in saline soil is possible, and to put the problem of global salinisation on the map. In the Netherlands, salinisation is caused by bad water policies, and it could be easily solved. We live in a country with an abundance of freshwater, money and knowledge. The Netherlands is not interesting as a market. Salinisation is a global problem. In Pakistan, an area of 600 million hectares is concerned, in Bangladesh it concerns 400 million hectares, and globally, we are dealing with 1.5 billion hectares of saline soil.”

Salinisation is therefore an enormous problem, but at the same time, because of its size, it is an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs who dare to invest in it. The Zilt Proefbedrijf Texel is obtaining more and more knowledge about crops and varieties that are not, moderately or completely saltwater tolerant. “We tested more than 700 regular crops, ten per cent of which can thrive under salty circumstances. There are large differences per type and variety,” Marc explains.

The following video explains the opportunities for the Netherlands: