There are more than 250,000 hectares of date palm plants in Iran. Five provinces are producing 99 percent of the dates in the country.
Sistan-Baluchestan, Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan, Fars, and Kerman are the five first provinces of dates producing regions with 54,000 hectares, 35,000 hectares, 34,000 hectares, 33,000 hectares, 31,000 hectares and 30,000 hectares respectively.
Sistan and Baluchestan stands at the top of the tally, producing more than 203,000 tons of dates per year, followed by southern Kerman with 200,000 tons, Fars with 162,000 tons, eastern Kerman with 151,000 tons, Bushehr with 150,000 tons, Khuzestan with 148,000 tons and Hormozgan with 140,000 tons correspondingly.
In terms of production capacity of dates palm plants, one hectares of plants in southern Kerman produces 6,670 kilograms, followed by Kerman, Fars, Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchestan with 6,256 kilograms, 5,983 kilograms, 5,365 kilograms and 5,132 kilograms in that order.
It is worth mentioning that 30 percent of the dates production of the Islamic country can be used in processing industries, which can also be of significant importance for the economy of the state if budget for purchasing machinery as well as construction of industrial units are allocated. The industrial units will help attract value added income.
The processing and supplementary industries are of great importance, because they can play the role of filling the gap between production and consumption of dates in order to produce and supply this product in domestic and world markets.
Improving products quality through development of planting valuable dates for international trade, observing plantation regulations in date plants, removing obstacles in the way of mechanization of plants, construction of advanced processing industries, upgrading transportation system, respecting health protocols during plantation and harvest, as well as establishing a fast information system to increase ties between exporters and importers are among the strategies to develop dates industry in Iran.
IRNA
