The sessions addressed modern methods of resistance to the "red" weevil and access to safe food products

Studies at the University's International Date Palm Conference"The Kingdom is the second largest producer of dates with 15% of production"

Media and Communication Center:

The results of a study presented by Dr. Abdelkader Boufarsawi, a professor at the Houari Boumediene University of Science and Technology, at the Second International Date Palm Conference currently underway at the university, proved that the Islamic world in Africa and Asia is the main producer of dates globally, noting that the number of date-producing countries in the region is 13 countries that produce 95% of the total global date production.

He added that Egypt ranks first in date production with 18% of global production, while Saudi Arabia ranks second with 15%, Iran ranks third with 14%, the UAE ranks fourth with 14%, followed by Algeria in fifth place with 9%, and Iraq in sixth place with 8% of global date production.

The study pointed out the diversity of date varieties, which exceeds 1400 varieties, which began to be cultivated in the Euphrates Basin more than 6000 years ago, and man used them as food in ancient and modern times, and used their leaves in some traditional industries, and their trunks to build villages, in addition to being an integrated food, due to its rich composition of iron and potassium, and containing a large amount of vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates that make it a fruit with high energy, and the date is a favorite food in the Prophet's Sunnah.

During the first day of the Second International Date Palm Conference, many scientific sessions were discussed throughout the day in the morning and evening periods, with six sessions.

The first session was chaired by Dr. Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Salim, and its main focus revolved around the economics and marketing of dates, through the presentation of a research paper presented by Dr. Hans van der Beek entitled "Cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands in improving date production and quality.

Dr. Beck presented ways to help companies and farmers manage water and reduce its consumption by 70%. He also touched on ways of cooperation between the two countries in developing ways to treat pests that threaten palm trees, most notably the "palm weevil." Dr. Beck's presentation also included how to improve irrigation techniques and increase internal marketing efficiency.

After that, Mr. Saud Al-Fada, Director General of the Agricultural Department at the Saleh Al-Rajhi Endowments Administration, presented a working paper on how to qualify projects and farms to obtain specialized international agricultural certificates, the most prominent of which is the "Global GAP" certificate, pointing out that the most important objectives of obtaining the certificate are to ensure access to safe food products and give a clear indication that the farm has achieved its mission in supporting food security locally and globally, as well as protecting the environment from the negative effects of agricultural production, and the certificate aims to instill confidence in consumers, and is a passport for agricultural products outside the country's borders to many countries of the world.

Then, Dr. Ejaz Ashraf presented a paper titled The level of knowledge of farmers on the treatment of date production and marketing in Pakistan, followed by Dr. Shamim Ahmed, who presented a research paper titled Marketing of date-based food products as healthy products, during which he talked about many ways in which the food industries produced from dates, such as juices and others, can be utilized, and at the end of the session, the floor was opened for discussion among the attendees on the topics raised in the session and answering queries related to them.

The second session dealt with palm production and care techniques, with the participation of a number of researchers and experts in this field, including Dr. Emad Fouda, Dr. Jamal Abdul Hakim, Dr. Shahzada Arshad Khan, Dr. Ahmed Khan, Dr. Alhady Adam, and Dr. Lubna Abdul Jalil, and the session was chaired by Dr. Abdulaziz Bani Al-Harbi.

Research papers were presented on the impact of date palm pollination techniques and methods on the quantity and quality of date production.

The third session was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Saleh bin Sulaiman Al-Huwairini, and aimed to identify modern methods of resistance to this pest and ways to eliminate it. The keynote speaker, Dr. Frank Witt, presented the modern methods used to detect the red palm weevil at an early stage before it spreads in the palm, so that it can be resisted in its early stages.

Dr. Mohamed Kamal Abbas, Dr. Badr Al-Sabah, Dr. Atef Abdel-Razzaq, and Dr. Abdullah Abdel-Moneim also participated with their scientific papers, which dealt with the study and analysis of the red palm weevil, which is considered an edible insect, and even a traditional food in several countries, with high nutritional value with a high percentage of fat, protein, and minerals.

The fourth session, held under the chairmanship of Dr. Nasser bin Saleh Al-Ghameez, dealt with the techniques of date palm production and care and the future of investment in the date industry, palm products and achieving food security, and the most important developments in the field of date palm cultivation and industries based on it, and methods of caring for them in order to achieve the highest possible productivity and achieve the greatest benefit for farmers and companies interested in palm, and Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Hamdan spoke about the most important possible ways towards a better future for investment in the date industry and palm products in order to achieve some kind of food security, as palm can fill a large gap of food gaps in the world if it is fully exploited.

Dr. Yousef Al-Fahid talked about how to determine and estimate the field water needs and crop coefficient for date palms using "lysimeters" in Saudi Arabia, in order to save quantities of water used in date palm cultivation and achieve the highest productivity of dates with the least amount of water, which contributes to increasing the area used in palm cultivation as well as utilizing every drop of water to increase the number of palm trees in the Kingdom.

Dr. Khalid Mohammed Hawladar discussed pollination methods for the most important date palm varieties in the Kingdom, determining the duration of the susceptibility of the feminized flowers of the most important date palm varieties in the Kingdom to pollination, in addition to the effect of water on increasing date production.

The session was attended by Dr. Abdullah Al-Jamdan, Dr. Abeer Abdulkarim, Dr. Ahmed Mahrous, and Dr. Hassan Owais.

The conference sessions continued in the evening, where the fifth session witnessed discussions on palm products manufacturing technology, chaired by Dr. Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Rumayyan, in which Dr. Tariq Al-Adawi, Dr. Khalifa Al-Raihi, Rahab Abdullah, Dr. Al-Sayed Attia, and Adel Ahmed participated with their scientific papers.

The research papers touched on the most important developments in this field, which is witnessing a remarkable development day by day, as dates have become an essential input in many food products and an essential component of food tables in many countries of the world. The session was chaired by Dr. Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Rumayyan, where Dr. Adel Mahmoud presented a comparative analysis on the methods of drying date palm fruits and the effect of sunlight on the dates of fruiting.

The sessions of the first day of the conference concluded with the sixth session, which was dedicated to discussing the topic of date palm pests and methods of control. This aspect received great attention from the conference organizers, scientists and specialists in the study of palm pests, given the seriousness of these pests on the entire date palm cultivation process, as they can cause farm collapse, poor productivity and crop damage.

The session was chaired by Dr. Ahmed bin Ali Al Raqiba, with the participation of Dr. Mouloud Ghadban, Dr. Massoud bin Sassi, Dr. Siham Maachia, and Dr. Khalid Al Hudaib.

Dr. Samah bint Mohammed Benchaaban spoke about the impact of temperature, biological and demographic factors on date palm cultivation, while Dr. Khalid Al-Hadeeb spoke about methods of screening disease resistance genes in some date palm varieties in Saudi Arabia, so that they can be developed and increased, which increases the palm's ability to resist pests.