Date palm cultivation breaks new ground

Productivity benefits of extensive replanting more viable than planting fresh saplings, research team finds

Replanting old date palms could increase farm incomes in Oman, researchers at the Sultan Qaboos University ( SQU) said. “Our research shows that Oman’s revenue from date palms could increase by 7 million Omani riyals through replanting of old trees,” Dr Hemesiri Kotagama at SQU’s Department of Natural Resource Economics, said.

The study, conducted by researchers in the department at the College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences at SQU also arrived at the optimal replanting schedule for date palm.

Amani Al Alawi, with guidance from Dr Kotagama, undertook the study to estimate the optimal age to replant.

“Oman could increase the revenue from the date palm sector by about 13 per cent,” Dr Kotagama said, adding that, in 2011, the revenue from date palms was put at 52.7 million riyals by adopting the derived replanting schedule.

“The methodology and the models developed in this study could be useful tools for planning such a programme at a national and farm level.”

Dr Kodagama said that, for Oman, the date palm was the most significant crop, but the area under date palm farming, besides productivity and production of the crop had stagnated since 2000. “It is estimated that nearly 37 per cent of the date palms in Oman are more than 50 years old.”

The government has implemented a programme to rejuvenate the sector by planting one million date palms.

Dr Kodagama said that planting of new date palms could require additional land, water and other resources. “Or, they could be replanted substituting aged and unproductive palms without additional commitment of land, water and other resources,” he stressed.

The study estimated the optimal age of replanting date palms as 50- 55 years.