PRODUCTION TREND OF DATES IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

By

Salman Ata

PRODUCTION TREND OF DATES IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Pakistan is the world’s 5^th largest producer of dates (phoenix dactylifera) while India is the largest importer of dates with 38% share in the international market. The major date palm growing areas in India are Kutch, Rajasthan and some parts of Punjab. However, the maximum concentration of date palm trees is found in Kutch area having more than 105 million trees. Majority of these date palm trees is either propagated through seeds or consist of another similar palm species, Phoenix Sylvestris (wild date palm). Although these trees represent huge biodiversity, yet local cultivars have lower yield potential as compared to improved cultivars which results in low farmers’ income. During the last 15 years, the government of India took major steps to promote date palm culture, especially in Kutch and Rajasthan. Due to these efforts, the area under date palm in Kutch is increased from 8,973 ha to 16,000 ha during the last ten years. Date Palm Research Centres in Gujrat, Rajasthan and Punjab are responsible for research and extension in their respective regions. Indian government launched different projects to motivate farmers regarding date palm production like Integrated Development of Date Palm, National Horticulture Mission Plan etc. standardization of tissue culture laboratory by Anand Agriculture University and development of model date palm farms are also part of government efforts to enhance date palm area and production in the country. Although progress has been made by the Indian Government regarding the expansion of area and production of the date palm, yet there is still a large gap between supply and demand of dates in India. Provision of improved cultivars, screening of existing local cultivars, improvement of farmer’s technical knowledge about date palm production and efficient marketing would be the important steps towards the promotion of date palm culture in India.

  

Area and production of date palm in Pakistan and India from 1980 to 2006

	*Pakistan		India**
Year	Area (ha)	Prod. (tons)	Area (ha)	Prod. (tons)
1982	33,437	25,851	15,677	80,722
1983	35,652	34,148	15,887	79,945
1984	39,431	23,452	15,932	86,660
1985	38,953	21,823	15,658	85,766
1986	36,733	27,893	15,765	89,195
1987	41,345	33,291	15,378	87,988
1988	41,543	33,786	15,480	87,588
1989	41,795	27,641	15,550	80,400
1990	45,737	29238	15,187	77,800
1991	44,275	292,89	14,654	77,812
1992	54,754	275,51	14,000	76,987
1993	64,345	578,57	14,595	80,565
1994	67,853	579,00	14,337	80,300
1995	73,915	533,00	14,300	96,000
1996	75,530	534,400	14,000	96,444
1997	75,131	537,500	13,900	94,000
1998	75,530	721,630	13,750	94,050
1999	76,930	579,940	13,500	94,050
2000	78,633	612,500	13,450	93,150
2001	78,521	630,281	13,000	93,700
2002	77,910	625,000	13,000	92,250
2003	74,810	630,000	13,500	94,000
2004	81,700	650,000	13,500	98,000
2005	82,000	496,580	13,742	99,000
2006	84,800	426,300	14,000	99,600

                               *FAO, **Estimated values

Pakistan is the 5^th largest producer in the world in terms of Date production with an annual production of more than 600,000 metric tons. However, a huge proportion of exported dates consist of dried dates which are mainly exported to India. Pakistan exported 88,451 tons of dried dates and 4,687 tons of fresh dates and earned $36.03 million during the year 2007-08. Pakistan exports 80,700 tons of Dates to India during the year 2007. The share of Pakistan in the world Date market is about 18%. India, USA, UK and Bangladesh are important export markets. However, Pakistani dates fetch a very low price in the international market as compared to other countries because of low grade, lack of processing and value addition. Turbat, Panjgur (Balouchistan), Khairpur, Sukkur (Sindh), Dera Ismail Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Jhang (Punjab) are major date palm producing districts. Aseel, Dhakki, B.J, Karbalain, and Fasli are few prominent varieties in Pakistan. Balochistan has the largest area under date palm cultivation in Pakistan followed by Sindh and Punjab. However, promotion efforts regarding date palm processing and value addition are next to nothing.
Pakistan has achieved significant success in increasing area and production of date palm during the last 25 years but focuses on value addition and processing of dates is not satisfactory. Pakistan receives very low prices of her dates as compared to other countries because of low standard and dominance of dried dates as an export item, even though soft dates have more international demand and price. Moreover, farmers’ perspective is greatly ignored by the government especially in the marketing of dates and provision of training regarding production and protection aspect of date palm. Pakistan has a favourable climate to produce organic dates which have a great demand in the international date market. There is still no intervention for the production and marketing of organic standard dates in Pakistan. Pakistani date varieties can compete with other top varieties like Mejhoul, Deglet Nour, and Barhee if government pay attention to value addition, processing, and post-harvest technology of date palm.