Dates harvest season has started in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza Strip where there are thousands of fruitful palm trees.
Harvest season is an important economic opportunity for Palestinian farmers to increase their income in light of the dire living conditions in the besieged Strip.
Adham Al-Bassiouni a spokesman for Gaza’s Agriculture Ministry said that this year’s production is “good normal and natural”.
He pointed out that the total production could reach 14000 tons out of the total area of land cultivated with palm trees estimated at around 9200 dunums and around 185000 fertile palm trees.
He added that 97 percent of the produced dates are of the “Hayani” type and only 3 percent are of “Barhi” type.
Bassiouni stressed that his ministry encourages local farmers to produce “Barhi” dates and strictly prevents the importation of any competitive varieties.
For his part the economist and environmental expert Nizar Al-Wahidi stressed the importance of date production for the economy and for people’s health.
Therefore he called to benefit from the harvest season in terms of date industry employment.
“We have to raise awareness about the importance of local date production” he said.
The harvest season of red dates is one of the most important products of the agricultural sector in Palestine he continued.
The dates which are rich in vitamins minerals natural sugars proteins and other nutrients are easily stored and carried along on long journeys.
Gazan farmers however are facing problems related to the storage and export of their produce in light of border closures and Israeli restrictions.
