Dates cultivation in Sindh: Research on standard varieties including tissue culture needed: experts

HYDERABAD: Agriculture and horticulture experts have expressed that dates have been cultivated in Sindh for thousands of years and for the cultivation of different varieties of high-quality dates in Sindh, the researchers should promote research on popular and standard varieties including tissue culture according to the climate of Sindh.

They said this while addressing the ceremony held after the plantation of Barhi and Khunezi date palm plants brought from Green Coast Nursery Dubai at Sindh Agricultural University, on Thursday.

While addressing the event, Vice Chancellor Dr Fateh Marri said that like mango, guava, banana, and jujube, date palm is a significant fruit in Sindh, but unfortunately, research on it is negligible.

He said that many countries including Dubai, Iran, Iraq, India, and Saudi Arabia, and the global market have large consumption of date palms in novel commodities, by-products, and religious needs, while the market is limited due to the quality of our commodities and other diplomatic issues, so by researching new commodities and planting plantations in different areas, we can meet our country's food needs and earn a lot of foreign exchange from their exports.

Dr Inayatullah Rajpar, Dean of the Faculty of Crop Production said there was a time when dates were exported from Sindh to neighboring countries, due to which there was prosperity in Khairpur, Sukkur, and its suburbs, but now due to diplomatic problems and homogenization of varieties, our farmers and traders are frustrated, and their business is “less than half.”

Muhammad Akram Sheikh, an alumnus of Sindh Agriculture University, who donated tissue culture of date plants from Dubai, said that Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan are the five largest countries in the world in terms of date production, while Sindh has a long history of dates and the five thousand year old kernels found in MohanJo Daro witness this.

He said that dates can be cultivated in other areas along with Khairpur, Sukkur, Sanghar in Sindh.

Muhammad Saleh Sarki, Nadeem Memon, Dr Shahnawaz Marri also spoke on this occasion, while Dean Dr Manzoor Ali Abro, Dr Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar, Dr Aijaz Soomro, Dr Imran Khatri, Dr Mujahid Leghari, Shahzad Kaka and others were also present in the event.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023