Hager Saeed - Egyptian Gazette
Earlier this month, the government drew up a strategy to develop the palm date sector and increase exports within the next five years.
The new strategy, which is being implemented in collaboration between the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), targets an annual export value of $250 million for dates and locally produced fresh dates by 2029.
As part of the strategy, Egypt is also working towards reaching date exports of $500 million within 10 years. Additionally, the plan includes reducing the loss percentage of dates and fresh dates to 15 percent and lowering the production cost of the supply chain by 20 percent.
EzzEddin Gadallah, who is the director of the Central Palm Research Laboratory at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, said: “Egypt is the world leader in date production, exceeding 1.8 million tons annually. This represents 18 percent of global production and 24 percent of Arab production, with Arab countries producing 72 percent of the world’s dates.”
Egypt’s date exports, however, are not on par with its ranking as the world’s top producer, experts say. “Egypt exports 50,000 tons of its annual production because the quality of local dates does not meet international standards,”Gadallah said.
“Date exports are low because 52 percent of our harvest is moist, and these products are perishable. Only three percent is dry, while 20 percent is semi-dry,” Gadallah added, noting that Egypt focuses on exporting semi-dry dates since they are most suitable for export.
The new strategy will develop date export markets by cultivating more varieties that have higher economic return, Gadallah said.
According to agriculture expert Sherif Fayyad, the date sector still operates at levels of production, packaging, manufacturing, transportation, and marketing, primarily for the domestic market. The sector still requires an effective structure for its development and boosting exports.
“The major constraints are poor logistics and supply chain management of the whole date market. In fact, there is not an effective link between traders, farmers, packers, and so on,” Fayyad said.
Too little refrigerated warehousing is main reasons why date exports are so low, and the crop is liable to pests and infection in ordinary warehouses, he added. “Other challenges include the lack of qualified and trained staff and upgraded factories,” he added.
Fayyad said new strategy will open new markets and improve logistics with more refrigerated trucks, and improve storage for newly harvested dates.
