The Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “FAO”, during its 165th session held from November 30 to December 4, 2020 AD, approved the recommendation of the COAG Committee at its 27th session in Rome, which included the request of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to establish an International Year of Dates in 2027 AD, in preparation for submitting the recommendation to the United Nations General Assembly at its next session for final approval.

The Kingdom’s permanent delegation in Rome participated in the FAO Business Council, and the Kingdom’s permanent representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Dr. Muhammad bin Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, delivered the Kingdom’s statement regarding the approval of the International Year project.

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture explained that this important step came after several meetings and researches were held between the ministry and officials in the “FAO”, on the importance of economic and social dates for countries and societies, and an action plan was approved to establish an international year of dates at the request of the Kingdom, during the work of the Agriculture Committee. Which was held in September 2020 AD, and a proposed date has been set for it in the year 2027 AD, in preparation for its presentation to the United Nations in New York for final approval of its establishment.

The Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations approved that allocating an international year for dates contributes to raising awareness of the suitability of sustainable cultivation of date palms under various climatic conditions, due to its wide genetic diversity and its ability to adapt to a wide range of production environments and market demands. It is an important source of income for many societies, and the need to empower young people and women in order to develop a commercial and agricultural business system that includes the derivatives of this crop.

The Council stressed the urgent need to raise awareness of the economic benefits of dates, and the importance of sustainable agricultural and productive practices for millions of rural agricultural families and smallholders, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, and to raise awareness and stimulate markets about the benefits of dates and encourage good value chains that depend on innovative mechanization, digitization and services. Post-harvest.

According to the statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization, global date palm production covers an area of ​​more than one million hectares, and the total production is about 8.5 million metric tons, and its cultivation extends to Asia about 648.3 thousand hectares, in Africa 435.7 thousand hectares, in Europe 947 hectares, and the Americas 7022 hectares, while Asia and Africa are the two largest dates producing regions with 8.55% and 4.43% respectively of the total world production.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is considered one of the most important dates producing countries, and it accounts for 17% of the global production. The number of palm trees in Saudi Arabia exceeds about 31 million palm trees, which annually produce more than 1.5 million tons.

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and the National Center for Palms and Dates are working to facilitate export procedures and open marketing sales outlets outside the Kingdom, so that Saudi dates can reach all countries of the world, to benefit the Kingdom and contribute to achieving “Vision 2030” by increasing the Kingdom’s non-oil exports, which contributed to Raise the value of Saudi dates exports to 8.5% during the first half of 2020, to reach 549 million riyals.

The Ministry aims to increase the volume of Saudi dates exports, to achieve 80% of the target to reach 200 thousand tons by the end of 2020 AD, and to achieve the first place in the world in exporting dates during 2021 AD, by increasing the percentage of exports by 12% annually, by 1.75 billion riyals and 222 thousand tons.