Dates have traditionally been produced in West Asia and North Africa since ancient times. In recent years, although the production of this product has been considered in some other regions of the world, but it is still the center of production of this product in these regions.
In the forthcoming report prepared by the research unit of Kowsar Organization, based on the official statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the conditions of date production in the world and Iran’s position in the international arena will be examined.
- Production of dates
According to the latest FAO statistics, in 2014, the total date production in the world exceeded 7.6 million tons. This is more than double the production in 1992, and four times the production in 1961.
Accordingly, in this period, the production of this product in Iran has quadrupled. As the production of 300 thousand tons in 1961, in 1992 reached 578 thousand tons and in 2014 exceeded 1.156 million tons.
- The level of groves
FAO reports in 2014 show that the area under date cultivation in the world this year is about 1.127 million tons. This number was 241 thousand hectares in 1961 and in 1999 it was about one million hectares.
According to the same statistics, the area of groves in Iran in 2014 was about 150,000 hectares, which shows a double growth compared to 78,000 hectares in 1961.
- Efficiency and performance
Accordingly, it is interesting that the performance of dates in the world, from 1961 to 2014, had a declining trend. This is probably due to reasons such as wars and the level of technology and knowledge used in the predominantly poor producing countries. Performance of dates worldwide in 1961 was about 7.8 tons per hectare, which in 2014, decreased to 6.7 tons.
During this period, the yield of Iranian groves is increasing, so that the yield of 3.8 tons per hectare in 1961, with a gradual increase to 7.7 tons per hectare in 2014. Iran has devoted to itself 13% of the cultivated area and 15% of the world’s date production.
The important point is the performance conditions of this product in similar countries, such as Egypt. Egypt is not much different from Iran in terms of economic capacity as well as technical knowledge, while the performance of its groves is very different from ours. The amount of date production in Egypt with a quarter of the area under date cultivation in Iran is more than our country.
The performance level of palm groves in Egypt in 1961 was about 24 tons per hectare, which in 2014 exceeded 33 tons per hectare. This figure even reached a record in the entire history of world date production in 2012 with 36 tons per hectare.
- Top countries and Iran’s position
Thus, Egypt is undoubtedly the top producer of dates in the world, using its technical components. After Egypt, the top date-producing countries in the world are Iran, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia (2014).
Meanwhile, Egypt has the highest and Iraq the lowest degree of performance. Among these 10 countries, in addition to Egypt, the groves of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and even Sudan perform better than the groves of Iran.
The chart above shows that in terms of area under cultivation, among these 10 countries, the widest groves belong to Iraq. Meanwhile, FAO statistics show that the performance of Iranian groves is in the twelfth place among all countries in the world.
Analysis of official statistics shows that despite Iran’s traditional leadership in the production of dates in the world, the most important need of the country’s groves is the attention of senior managers to the development of technology and the use of new methods in these groves. In the whole production cycle, the parameter that plays a key role is the product performance, which includes the desired quality and how to produce this product, which leads to an increase in product tonnage on a hectare scale. In the field of groves and especially dates, in Iran, serious work has not been done as needed and we are still in the lead in wasting this precious blessing.
PayvandGroup: Center of Exporting Iranian Dates
Payvand Group, as one of the key exporters and suppliers of dates in Iran, is ready to supply the products required by its customers in a tailor-made manner according to the needs of export markets. Also, in order to help improve the productivity of date production by using the knowledge of its expert team, as in the past, it is ready to provide scientific and practical solutions for producers and farmers.