Agriportal

 Date Palm Supplier

 Date Palm Production Case Study

Question:

Do you know how many tons of dates are being exported out of Iraq and maybe other countries?  What is the average price wholesale or retail?

Response :

The following is the information :

·         Number of date palms in Iraq = 13,2000,000

According to the director all of the following date trees are under producing for reasons that I will state later.

·         Hallawi Palms- 50-60 kg per tree.

·         Barhi Palms - 100-120 kg per tree.

·         Zahdi Palms - 100-120 kg per tree.

·         Chibchab Palms - 120-150 kg per tree

The director states that termites have become a problem.  He estimates that in Basra half of the palms have a termite problem.

Dubas insects are the number one problem in central Iraq.

Lastly the Date Palm Spider Mite (or Dust Spider Mite) is in some areas a problem because spraying was done for the Dubas insect along with another insect (natural predators of the mite).   From what I am told the spraying does not kill the mite, and without natural predators the mite becomes more of a problem unless it is targeted as well.

The director also states that almost all of the processing is done on a very small scale for local consumption.  Below are some verities and their price in Iraqi Dinar per Kg:

·         Barhi = 1000-1250 per kg

·         Hallawy = 250 per kg

·         Sayr = 500-750per kg

Lastly the director tells us that much of the fruit is left on the tree and not harvested, with the exception of people that are harvesting the fruit to feed to animals.

in the past most of the date production went to UAE where it was processed and then sold as paste, fresh dates, or as other date based products.