Egypt has started planting two million palm trees of new varieties to meet international demands, as part of the country’s strategic step to further develop the date industry. Egypt has 15.5 million palm trees planted on an area of 36,000 hectares. Head of the Research Department at the Central Laboratory for Date Palm Research and Development, Moustafa Taha, said that Egypt plants three main varieties of dates: Barhi, Medjool, and Siwa, which are the most demanded types globally currently. Egypt at present produces about 16.6% of the world’s dates, and 24.2% of the Arab countries production, totalling 1.4 million tons annually, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Agriculture. According to dailynewsegypt.com, Egypt occupies a lagging position in date exports on a global scale, although it occupies first place in production, which requires intensive efforts from the Agriculture Export Council and the Ministry of Industry to increase date exports henceforward.

Source: Daily News Egypt September 25, 2018 12:11 UTC