Cultivation of UAE’s Identity : Date

The Date Fruit has sustained generations in the UAE and has become an integral part of the country’s heritage. It is said that there are currently over 44 million date palms in the UAE. These palms can be categorised under 199 different varieties. Every year these date palms together produce 76,000 tonnes of date.

Some of the most popular varieties of date produced in the UAE are Dabbas, Khunaizi, Khalas, Al-Nekhba, Ferth, etc.

Date season begins early in the year and in April or May, dates begin to bud and the thinning process starts by opening each bunch of strands that were tied together. Date trees absorb a high quantity of water but cannot tolerate rain or humidity. They are grown in the desert where the temperature in summer reaches nearly 100-120 degrees.

In late August or early September, the dates are harvested and are preserved in either wooden screen trays or black plastic trays. The dates which are still yellow are left in the sunlight to ripen and other dates are packed and stored in cold storage until they are sold.