Dates Farming in India – Planting, Processing and Harvesting

Is dates farming possible in India? Yes, who said you that dates can only be grown in Gulf countries. Now you can cultivate dates palm in your farm. In India, cultivation of dates increasing day by day. The major producers of date palm trees are countries in the Middle East and other countries in Africa while Iran is the largest exporter, whereas India is the largest importer of date palm which is roughly around 38% of the world market. Date palm trees are grown for its fruits which is known as dates, are sweet and highly nutritious. In this article we will understand dates farming.

There are more than 1000 varieties exists and from this few of them are commercially cultivated date varieties. Barhee, Medjool, Shamran, Khadarawy, Halawy, Zahidi, Khalas, Wild date palm

Date farming cultivation can be done in the regions that have prolonged hot dry summer, moderate winter climate condition with no or minimum rain during fruit ripening period. Dates required low humidity and plenty of sunshine for their proper growth. They can survive extreme temperature and water scarcity.

Dates can be grown in all kinds of soil and there are no specific soil requirements. Although date palm farming can be done in saline and alkaline soil, the growth and yield gets affected. Dates palm requires well drained deep sandy soil with PH of 8 to 10.

You can also read more about drought tolerant plant, which require very little two or three watering i.e. Chia Seeds

Sufficient organic manures is applied at the time of land preparation. Each pit planted with an offshoot is covered with a mixture of organic manure, sand, and other materials. Dates trees can grown about 70 to 80 feet in height and having life span of about 70 to 80 years, it is essential to have adequate spacing in between the plants.

Dig the pits size of 1*1*1 meters during the summer to prepare plantation in rainy season. These pits should be kept opened for 2 weeks and their add sufficient amount of organic manure such as cow dung in the pit. July to September is the best time for plantation.

Propagation in date farming involves sexual and asexual method to increase the number of date palm. In additional to this, modern technique such as tissue culture is also employed to propagate date palm. In sexual method, propagation is done from seeds of dates whereas in asexual involves techniques like grafting which means attaching a cutting from a desirable date palm to the rootstock of another plant.

Tissue culture method is employed to produce large number of genetically identical plants which are beneficial for commercial farming. This method involves growing plants from small piece of plant tissue allowing for mass production.

Learn more about propagation in date farming. Click to watch this video.

Water required depending upon the moisture holding capacity of the soil and climate condition. Date palm required high water although it can sustained prolong dry and drought. It prefer constant moisture in the soil and there is no need of watering in the rainy season.

Farmers can earn some extra by doing in intercropping in between date palm trees. Intercrops such as papaya, beans, pomegranates and tomatoes etc. Growing two or more crops simultaneously minimizing the risk of crop failure and maximize resource utilization.

Date palm trees begin to bear fruits depending on the variety but generally it start with third or fourth year. Harvesting time also varies depending on market preference. Under proper care a single date palm can yield approximately 100 to 125 kg of fruits annually.

In conclusion to this article, date farming is beneficial in the long run because the trees begin to bear fruits from 4 to 5 years of plantation. As initial cost is high which include the cost of date palm trees but the maintenance cost is relatively low. India is largest importer of dates, so there is big opportunity for Indian farmer to dig this out.