Creating opportunities for salt-affected farmland
We help to improve crop yield under saline conditions
and bring solutions into the hands of farmers
The Salt Doctors specialize in creating and implementing resilient farming systems
for salt-affected areas.
We achieve this by research and consultancy, providing practical training in the field
and assisting with the implementation from sowing to harvesting.
Salinity levels are increasing all over the world. As a result, yields are decreasing and the livelihood of millions of farmers and global food security is under pressure already.
The Salt Doctors often act as an implementation partner to realize climate resilient agriculture and help farmers to adapt to the ever-increasing salinity levels.
We focus on an integrated approach that provides practical guidelines, training
and demonstration in the field on how to deal with salinity and improve the crop yields
in a sustainable way.
Key Focus:
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Salinity assessments and mapping of opportunities
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Research, training (of trainers) and capacity building
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Developing, demonstrating and implementing scalable solutions under saline conditions
Why Saline Agriculture?
Up to 833 million hectares are salt affected globally and this often leads to reduced crop yields.
Saline agriculture makes use of salt tolerant crops to improve yields under saline conditions.
Helping farmers to adapt to the ever-increasing salinity levels
can have a major impact on the food security and livelihoods of 1.5 billion people!
Our projects
Salinity assessment:
Saline farming assessment mission
in Morocco
Identifying salt affected farms that are suitable for future demonstration activities and identify local partners who are willing to be part of future activities to help Moroccan farmers to become more resilient to increasing salinity levels under (fresh)water scarce conditions.
Read more
Training and capacity building:
Training potato cultivation under saline conditions in Iraq
The Salt Doctors performed a practical training, regarding potato cultivation under saline conditions, for the staff of Basrah University in Iraq.During classroom training sessions different aspects of crop salt tolerance and soil and water management were covered as well.
Read more
Scalable solutions:
Developing scalable solutions
in Egypt
The project focusses on creating business cases for saline agriculture and build capacity for the further implementation of sustainable saline agricultural practices. Creating business cases is important to show farmers that saline agriculture is possible and profitable.
Read more
Latest news
07-09-2022
Earlier this year we were in Morocco for a Saline Farming Assessment Mission, funded by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). We visited different locations to understand the local conditions and discuss the challenges and the needs of the stakeholders. Based on the results we are now preparing the approach for implementing scalable solutions in #Morocco, regarding the crop cultivation under saline conditions and integrated water management.
08-08-2022
To create opportunities for salt-affected farmland, the first step is to understand the salinity challenges of the location. The Salt Doctors work all over the world on salinity assessments and the mapping of opportunities to increase the crop yield under saline conditions. Please have a look at this video that we made about this part of our work, which also includes some guidelines on soil sampling and analysis!
02-09-2022 (only in Dutch)
De droogte zal niemand ontgaan zijn, niet alleen in Nederland maar in heel Europa. Deze maand worden de eerste oogsten van vele akkers gehaald en zal duidelijk worden hoeveel de gewassen hebben geleden onder de droogte, maar ook onder de verzilting. Een lastig onderscheid, want droogte en verzilting leiden op het eerste gezicht vaak tot eenzelfde soort gewasschade.
In dit artikel gaan Arjen de Vos en Bas Bruning van The Salt Doctors samen met Tine te Winkel en Jouke Velstra van Acacia Water hier dieper op in.
05-07-2022
It was our pleasure to show the Cuban delegation the different ways we can use to prevent, mitigate ánd adapt to increasing salinization. On the island of Texel in the Netherlands there are examples of smart water management like rainwater harvesting of Acacia Water, but also salt tolerant potato and halophytes like Groentehelden Texel are cultivating are part of an integrated solution. Many of these solutions are also relevant for Cuba and many other countries!