GLOBAL DATE PALM PRODUCTION AT RISK DUE TO PESTS, DISEASES, SAYS UN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

GLOBAL DATE PALM PRODUCTION AT RISK DUE TO PESTS, DISEASES,

SAYS UN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

ROME, 13 July (FAO) -- Date palm production is facing serious problems, such as low yields, due to the lack of research, the spread of pests, as well as marketing constraints, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

The FAO has recently launched a Global Date Palm Network to promote research and exchange of information on production, resources and on the ecological and social benefits of date palms.

Date palms are mainly grown in South-west Asia and North Africa.

Dates are an extremely important subsistence crop in most of the desert regions.  For millions of people, dates are an important nutritional element contributing to food security.  They also form a vital part of the culture and agrobiodiversity in the region.

Productivity Decline

Over the last decade, productivity has declined in the traditional growing areas.  As much as 30 per cent of production can potentially be lost as a result of disease and pests.  In the Middle East, the Red Palm Weevil has recently become one of the major date palm pests, while "bayoud" disease, which is caused by a parasitic fungus, is a common threat to date palms in North Africa.

Date production in the Gulf region amounted in 2002 to around 65 per cent of world output, and in Africa to about 35 per cent.  Global date production was about 5.4 million tonnes in 2002, according to FAO.

"Pests and diseases spread increasingly with the expansion of trade and travel in the globalizing world system", said Peter Kenmore of the FAO Plant Protection Service.

A recent workshop on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for date palms in the Gulf countries reviewed lessons learned from ecologically based IPM programmes on palm trees in Asia and Latin America, and recommended strengthening biological pest control strategies in the Near East.

The workshop also emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary research and field monitoring to discover and manage insects from a very early stage as priorities for a practical IPM strategy.

Quarantine systems should be complemented by field observations and education of farmers and farm workers.  "FarmerFieldSchools and the training of extension officers should be promoted", Mr. Kenmore said.

Algeria, Bahrain, Chile, Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Namibia, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, have joined the Global Date Palm Network.

For further information, contact:  Salah Al-Bazzaz, FAO Information Officer, e-mail: salah.albazzaz@fao.org, tel. (+39) 06 570 56328.  For radio interviews, Liliane Kambirigi, Radio Information Officer, e-mail: liliane.kambirigi@fao.org, tel: (+39) 06 570 53223.

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