|
Dates industry
In almost all cultures and religions of the world, dates have special importance. For instance, in Muslims' holy book Quran, the fruit and its palm have been referred to more than 20 times. Even in other religions, dates are important on religious occasions like Christmas and Devali. Besides, for human body dates have immense nutritive value. About 5 or 6 average sized dates provide 95 calories of energy, which is about twice that provided by a medium sized apple. The developed countries declared it as 'health food' and they utilise the product in various food items.Dates are grown in more than 40 countries of the world. Pakistan, Iraq, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, America, Spain, Turkey, Nigeria, Bahrain, Palestine, Yemen, UAE and Somalia are the main date growing countries. Pakistan ranked 4th in the top 12 date growing countries. The world production of dates in 2001 was 5.46 million tonnes.
Due to its soil and seasons, Pakistan is an ideal place for date cultivation. Dates are grown in all the four provinces of Pakistan. The main growing areas are Makran, D. G. Khan, Bahawalpur, Jhang, Multan, Sukkur and Mirpur. In spite of growing dates in large quantity, the processing industry is at cottage level in Pakistan. Therefore, the industry is not capable to scientifically process its one-fourth production. To process dates, about 12 factories have been set up in date growing areas, but only one packing factory has taken ISO 9000 certificate.
The figures given in table-I indicate that the total production increased from 287 thousand tonnes in 1990-91 to 580 thousand tonnes in 1999-2000. However, it remained static for the last seven years. But, the figures are quite confusing, for instance, in 1998-99 production in Sindh suddenly increased from 34 thousand tonnes to 215 thousand tonnes. Similarly, total production rose from 538 thousand tonnes to 722 thousand tonnes and then again came down to 580 thousand tonnes the next year. How this happened is not clear.
Production
Pakistan is one of the main growers of dates. It follows Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arab on the list of top date producing countries with 11 per cent share of the global production. Its annual average production has remained 5 to 7 lac tonnes per annum. Dates are cultivated over an area of 70 to 75 thousand hectares. In spite of producing huge quantity, Pakistan is importing dates worth $5 million annually.
Exports
Date export started in the beginning of the 80s. Presently, Pakistan is the largest exporter of dates in the world, after India and UAE. Pakistan is not only exporting dates, but also importing dates regularly.
In 2000-01 over 6.622 million kg dates worth $2.481 million have been exported to over 20 countries, while dry dates export was $23.499 million. By improving the quality and packing and at competitive prices, export of dates can be increased manifold.
In order to increase export, permanent display-cum sale centres should be set-up at Dubai, Doha, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, New York and Frankfurt etc. These centres may be established in private sector, which can become self-financing very soon.
There is a big scope of setting projects for producing dates bye-products such as vinegar, pickles, murabba, sweet chutney, date ketchup or sauce, syrup, honey and paste. In setting these projects, PCSIR, SMEDA, EPB, SME Bank and PIDC can help.
PROVINCE-WISE PRODUCTION
Year Punjab Sindh NWFP Balochistan Total
1990-91 96.2 97.6 5.5 88.0 287.3
1995-96 91.5 31.5 6.0 403.6 532.6
1996-97 92.2 32.1 6.0 404.1 534.4
1997-98 93.7 34.0 6.3 403.5 537.5
1998-99 95.4 215.4 6.5 404.3 721.6
1999-00 89.5 244.6 6.6 239.2 579.9
-------
PRODUCTION, YIELD AND AREA
Year Production Yield per hectare Area
(M/Tonnes) (000) Tonnes hectare
1961 73,600 8.270 8,700
1972 197,600 9.234 21,400
1992 275,157 6.673 41,237
1995 532,531 7.205 73,501
1996 534,431 7.168 74,559
1997 537,487 7.157 75,100
1998 721,629 9.558 75,500
1999 579,880 7.541 76,900
--------
THE WORLD'S TOP 10 DATES
PRODUCING COUNTRIES (1997-2000)
Rank 1997 1998 1999 2000
1 Iran Iran Iran Iran
2 Egypt Egypt Egypt Egypt
3 Saudi Arabia Pakistan Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
4 Iraq Saudi Arabia Pakistan Pakistan
5 Pakistan Iraq Algeria Algeria
6 Algeria Algeria Iraq Iraq
7 UAE UAE UAE UAE
8 Sudan Sudan Sudan Sudan
9 Oman Oman Oman Oman
10 Libya Libya Libya Libya