Date
Palm tree is one of the oldest fruit trees in the world, and the main origin of this plant is not known. Some consider its origin in Asia and the Persian Gulf, some others consider its main habitat in North Africa and the subcontinent of India, or the Arabian Peninsula. The most creditable hypothesis, suggests its place of origin is south of Iraq (Mesopotamia) and southwest of Iran (Khuzestan). Archaeologists have announced the history of the construction of palm trees 5 to 7 thousand years ago.
Palm Situation in Iran:
Iran is one of the largest producers of dates in the world, which from the level of fertile cultivated lands, after Iraq, and from the quantity of date production, after Egypt, ranked 2nd in the world (based on FAO’s report in 2016). About 99% of the date produced in Iran belongs to the following provinces: Sistan va Baluchestan, southern Kerman, Fars, Kerman, Busher, and Khuzestan.
Crops cultivation, production and performance of Iranian dates in 2016
|
250137 |
Area under cultivation (hectare) |
|
1163495 |
Production (ton) |
|
5489 |
Average performance (kg/hectare) |
Crops cultivation, production and performance of Iranian dates in 2016, for various provinces
|
|
Province |
Area Under Cultivation (hectare) |
Production (ton) |
Performance (kg/hectare) |
||
|
Non-fertile |
Fertile |
Total |
||||
|
1 |
Isfahan |
144 |
215 |
359 |
88 |
409 |
|
2 |
Ilam |
205 |
84 |
289 |
182.4 |
2171 |
|
3 |
Busher |
3301.5 |
30247 |
33548 |
150526 |
4977 |
|
4 |
Southern Kerman |
2009 |
28715 |
30724 |
191542 |
6670 |
|
5 |
Southern Khorasan |
555 |
1396 |
1951 |
5661 |
4055 |
|
6 |
Khuzestan |
7250 |
27545 |
34795 |
147779 |
5365 |
|
7 |
Semnan |
49 |
67 |
116 |
353 |
5269 |
|
8 |
Sistan va Baluchestan |
13150 |
39685 |
52835 |
203651 |
5132 |
|
9 |
Fars |
3983.4 |
27076 |
31059.4 |
162002 |
5983 |
|
10 |
Kermanshah |
349 |
312.7 |
661.7 |
1719.9 |
5500 |
|
11 |
Kerman |
3527 |
24200 |
27727 |
151398 |
6256 |
|
12 |
Kohgiloyeh va Boyerahmad |
51.5 |
57 |
108.5 |
186.3 |
3268 |
|
13 |
Hormozgan |
3130 |
30225 |
33355 |
139657 |
4621 |
|
14 |
Yazd |
446 |
2163 |
2609 |
8749 |
4045 |
|
In total |
38150 |
211987 |
250137 |
1163495 |
5489 |
|
Exports of country’s dates by types
|
|
Type |
Wight (1000 tons) |
Value(Million dollar) |
$/kg |
% (from total exported date) |
|
1 |
Estaamaraan |
7.5 |
6.9 |
0.9 |
3 |
|
2 |
Kabkab |
9.7 |
7 |
0.7 |
3.8 |
|
3 |
Piyaram |
2.3 |
6.7 |
2.9 |
0.9 |
|
4 |
Mazafati |
85.2 |
113.2 |
1.3 |
33.6 |
|
5 |
Shahani |
17.7 |
12.8 |
0.7 |
7 |
|
6 |
Zahedi |
33.8 |
22.4 |
0.7 |
13.3 |
|
7 |
Other types |
97.2 |
81.5 |
0.8 |
38.4 |
|
Total |
253.3 |
250.5 |
|
100 |
|