Potato Diplomacy in the Middle East
By Stuart Hickox

Jordan seems like an unlikely place to grow potatoes.

The tiny Middle East Kingdom of 5.3 million people is mostly desert and is almost completely land locked. Unlike Jordan's neighbours, the country has few natural resources, and no oil reserves.

I recently spent two weeks in Jordan as part of a writing research trip. Before leaving I stumbled upon the Web site of West Isle Enterprises in Tyne Valley , Prince Edward Island (www.west-isle.com). There I discovered that owner and manager Rod MacNeill has sold 2500 tons of Kennebec seed potatoes to Jordan since 1991. I thought: PEI potatoes growing in the desert of the Middle East? This I had to see.

Jordan is the size of New Brunswick, but only 3% of its land area is suitable for farming. Daytime temperatures during the eight-month farm season can exceed 50°C. Despite all this, growing conditions for
potatoes are actually better than in PEI. Add water, and the parched desert floor is rich and red and deep. The constant sun provides nourishment for a long growing season. Two crops of potatoes are harvested each year and, most remarkably, the yields are huge. Some of the potatoes harvested are as long as a forearm, weighing as much as 2lb. The dryness makes the crops resistant to blight and mildew, and pests are not a major problem. Jordan produces enough potatoes to meet domestic demand, and exports the surplus to Persian Gulf countries.

The Rum Farm is in the Al Gueira growing district in south Jordan, just a few kilometres from the border with Saudi Arabia. The farm is named for the huge mountains (rums) that line the desert valleys. The region is stark, mountainous, and beautiful. There are no foothills here. Sheer red sandstone cliffs soar straight up hundreds of metres into the hazy
steel sky. Al Gueira is most famous as the setting for the film Lawrence of Arabia. The region has changed little since T. E. Lawrence himself set up camp nearby at the end of the First World War. Herds of wild
camels still roam freely across vast tretches of emptiness, and the desert is dotted with the black goat-hair tent homes of nomadic Bedouin families.

My journey to Al Gueira began in Amman, Jordan's bustling capital. After a three-hour drive on winding roads skirting precipitous gorges, my ears popped as the car dipped into a broad valley. Suddenly, the colour of
the craggy desert floor changed from pale and sandy to a dusty red. In the distance, an oasis of green, shimmering in the heat, broke the Mars-like terrain. It was rows and rows of potatoes.

I met the farm manager at a warehouse where a team of workers was unloading a truckload of unripe dates, still on the branches. Farmer Abdul Mansour was not new to farming; an Egyptian, he had earned a Master of Agricultural Engineering in Cairo before taking over the management of this farm in 1987. It was clear that he was proud of it as he gestured widely with his arms and showed no reluctance to talk. Under his direction, over 120 people maintain the 500-acre farm. The fields around us were dotted with workers pulling weeds and inspecting plants.

With introductions over, we hopped in Abdul's truck for the short drive to the potato fields. It hadn't rained in Al Gueira for six months. At 800m above sea level,
the land is flat and dry under a relentless sun. We pulled up to a field in a cloud of dust. I walked into the potato rows, and crouched to greet the familiar green friends. The air in the field was cool and still. Abdul Mansour's potato plants were thriving -- thick and strong and nearly 2' tall. The potatoes were in full bloom. They showed no sign of
drought, and seemed to be soaking up the sun with impunity. Abdul Mansour commented that he used some chemical pesticides, but that he preferred to introduce eco-friendly natural predators to ward off the
bugs.

Water for the Al Gueira Farm potatoes is pumped from wells drilled up to 300m deep below the desert. An intricate irrigation system of reservoirs and pipes delivers the water to the plants through hoses buried the
potato mounds. The plants survive on drips of water that seep through tiny holes in miles and miles of rubber pipe. I was impressed by the tidy rows, by the lack of weeds, and by how the soil looked and felt like PEI dirt after a few dry weeks. However, I left wondering why otatoes are planted in raised mounds in a country where it never rains.

I asked about the harvest. In the mid-1990s, Canada provided financing support for the purchase of a potato harvester for the farm. Abdul Mansour told me that the machine broke down in 2000. For the four growing seasons since, that left just one option for harvest. A small tractor opens the potato mounds so the irrigation hoses can be removed. Then, hundreds of acres of potatoes are handpicked by teams of workers in 45C+ heat. I thought of old stories I'd heard back in PEI; in the 1950s and '60s, school would recess for a few weeks in September so families could go "potato picking."

As we walked back to his truck, I noticed Abdul Mansour's silver wedding ring. He told me about his wife and four kids, and he apologized for not having photos with him. I showed him pictures of my son, but I think he was more impressed by the snow in some of the photos. My driver later told me that Abdul Mansour had reason to be proud and happy. At 500 Jordanian Dinars/month, he is well paid. In fact, his salary is twice
that of the average Jordanian. I shook my new friend's hand, and gave him a PEI flag before setting off on the return journey to Amman.

Back in Canada, I finally got in touch with Rod MacNeill at West Isle Enterprises. He chuckled when I told him I'd found his potatoes growing in Jordan. "We've had potatoes growing there, all right, but not this
year. Those potatoes you saw were probably from Holland."

At first I thought my mission to the Middle East had failed. Then I remembered the warm Jordanian welcome, the thriving potato plants, and Abdul Mansour's pride in his farm. Suddenly the chasm between the Arab
World and the Prince Edward Island did not seem so great.

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