Date palm trees bear fruit of Sino-Arab agricultural cooperation

(ECNS) -- In the "China-UAE Friendship Forest of Date Palm" located in Wenchang City, Hainan Province, rows of date palm trees from the United Arab Emirates are thriving. 

In Arab countries, it takes at least three to five years for date palms to bear fruit, but those introduced for trial cultivation in Hainan have borne fruit in about two years.

Cooperation between China and the UAE in the development of the date palm industry has made much progress, said Hu Wei, director of the Coconut Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

Known as "the bread of the desert," date palms are not only a major food crop in Arab countries but also an important agricultural export product.

In 2019, China and the UAE reached a consensus on the UAE's donation of 100,000 date palm seedlings to China.

In December 2021, the first batch of 1,500 date palm seedlings was officially handed over in Wenchang and planted at the Coconut Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

"Chinese researchers have transferred seedling propagation technology, cultivation techniques, and pest and disease control methods for date palms from other scientific avenues to considerable effect," said Xu Zhongliang, deputy director of the institute.

Currently, the institute has collected more than 230 date palm germplasm resources from home and abroad as well as 20 good parental varieties from abroad, laying a solid foundation for the breeding of new date palm varieties and industry development.

"The market prospects for dates are broad. They are inherently high in nutritional value, and date palm trees are tolerant to high temperatures, drought, salinity, and low temperatures, which are also beneficial to the restoration of the ecological environment," said Hu. 

The Coconut Research Institute will further promote regional trial planting of dates in hot areas such as Hainan and Yunnan, carry out technological innovation and cooperation exchanges, and serve the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and international scientific and technological cooperation, Hu added.