ABU DHABI, The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) stressed that date palm agriculture in the UAE has significantly developed in recent years and noted its efforts to advance this sector and ensure its sustainability by launching programmes and services dedicated to farmers that encourages them to adopt good production practices.
On the eve of the annual Arab Date Palm Day on 15th September, ADAFSA said total production in 2020 amounted to 258,000 tonnes, highlighting its exerted efforts to develop this vital sector. It noted that the date quality depends on the commitment to implement good agricultural practices from the start of the season until harvest.
ADAFSA added that its integrated palm pest management programme for Abu Dhabi farms has successfully controlled pests and insects that infect palm trees, and pheromone traps have helped eliminated 9,785,661 red palm weevils since the programme began in 2013.
There are currently some 21,157 light traps and 125,134 pheromone traps set around farms in Abu Dhabi, it added.
ADAFSA’s technical teams surveyed pests that affect palm trees, which covered more than 6.8 million trees in some 22,855 farms in various regions of Abu Dhabi. Under this framework, infected palm trees were treated and the pests and insects that infected them were controlled through the application of the integrated pest management programme, which included the use of pheromone traps to catch red palm weevils and light traps to catch excavators, as well as applying appropriate pesticides or spraying with micronised sulphur.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the date palm is probably the most ancient cultivated tree.
Source: Emirates News Agency