7

Nutritional Source

Serving as a critically important staple food with unique nutritional characteristics that unrivaled cultural importance in arid regions especially Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

Moisture 42%

Glucose 23%

Fructose 19%

Sucrose 4%

NSPs 7%

Protein 1.5%

Fat 0.1%

Ash 1.2%

Moisture 18%

Glucose 30%

Fructose 28%

Sucrose 5%

NSPs 10%

Protein 1.9%

Fat 0.3%

Ash 1.7%

8

Health Benefits of Dates

Treats AnaemiaNutrients, Iron

Weight lossHealthy and delicious snack

May have Cancer fighting properties

Prevent Night BlindnessVitamin A

Treat Sexual Dysfunction

Healthy digestion, Relieves Constipation

High in fiber

Bone HealthBoron, phosphorus, potassium, calcium,

magnesium

Energy BoosterEssential nutrients, natural sugars

Healthy Nervous SystemProtect against oxidative stress and

inflammation

Relieving Symptoms of Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis

9

Scope of the case study

• Photosynthesis refers to the process that converts carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) into organic compounds such as sugars using the energy from sunlight.

• Date palms absorb CO₂ and produce sugar, oxygen and water.

• Palm trees have a big potential in absorbing CO₂ from the atmosphere and converting it into sugars and other important compounds and cleaning the air

10

Scope of the case study

8.9424

10.167129.5256

11.72232

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Autumn Spring Summer Winter

Season

Co2 consumption during different seasons of the Year

Co2

Cons

umed

um

ol/m

2/s

ec

8.10648

10.55592 10.86696 10.517049.70056 9.73944 10.06992

10.67256 10.4976 10.206

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Ghar Hilali Kheneizi Khalas Nebout-Sif Om-rhim Ruzeiz Shahel Shishi Sukary

Co2

Cons

umed

um

ol/m

2 /s

ec

Date palm cultivars

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Expanding Fully expanded Recently expanded

Co 2

Con

sum

ed u

mol

/m2/

sec

Age of leaves

7.9 million MTCO₂/anum

31.5 million MTCO₂ /anum

Date palms

KSA World

Per day Co2 consumption performance of different date palm cultivars grown in KSA

Effect of age of leaf on per day CO2 consumption performance

400L CO2/day/date

palm

11

Red Palm Weevils Rhynchophorus ferrugineus

Scale insect Parlatoria blanchardii

Dubas bug Ommatissus lybicus

Insect Pests

Challenges to the date palms

12

Severity of the Issue

According to our estimates, approximately 1 percent of date palms are infested every year. Among the infested date palms, 10 percent of infested date palms are removed due to pest infestations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The rest of the 90 percent infested lead to the 30 percent reduction in photosynthesis. This reduction and loss lead to the loss of 15.2 million USD per year.

There are 30 million date palms, which we are trying to increase their productivity and to some extent number by expanding their cultivation in deserts, which will contribute significantly to mitigate climate change by cleaning the air.

Scale insects and bugs tremendously reduce (up to 70 %) photosynthesis rate

13

Farmers Facilitation ProgramsIn

itiat

ives

Launching farmer’s pests and diseases reporting mobile application for possible eradication of pests and diseases

Mobile application

Supporting the small farmers by advising and providing free of cost pest control services

Support

Facilitate the farmers regarding pest’s preventive measures and other agriculture operation by electronic extension services

Electronic extension platform services

Environmentally friendly pest preventive and control measuresPest Management Program

Obj

ectiv

es

Promote date palms cultivation and safeguard

their production

Enhance production

Farmers capacity building

Increasing harvesting area of date palms

14

Mobile Application

REPORTING• Suspected infected palm tree

• Reporting the infestation by sending picture or video orvoice message

1

2 ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION

3

• Review reporting for appropriate thecnical action

• Inspection and control remedies for infected palm

QUERY COMPLETION

• Informing the reporter about the completion of theirelectronic query

15

Extension Platform

16

Total number of electronic communications

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Trial period End of September The second week of

October

27-Oct-19

Reporting queries by electronic extension platform

400

1100 per day

60

3700 queries/day

50

543

1002

2970

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

Trial period End of September The first week of

October

22-Oct-19

Pest reporting queries by Mobile application

Queries: • Text messages• Snapshot of pests• Damage snapshots

17

Conclusion

• The response of the farmers at the start was not as much as we were expecting about the use of mobile application for

reporting pest infestation for possible eradication of pests and diseases.

• The operational cost for pests and diseases eradication that is challenging task also supported by the Government to

facilitate the small farmers. We encourage public-private partnership to share the cost.

• King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia and Wageningen University, Netherland collaborate with us in developing mobile app

and electronic extension platform using Artificial Intelligence

• Countries should development strong certification and regulatory quarantine measures to stop pest invasion

In future, several initiatives will be launched to motivate the farmers about the adaptation of Good Agricultural Practices in order to enhance the yield of their produce and capacity building of the farmers regarding mobile application solutions

Lessons learned, challenges and opportunities

Future Plans

• Increased the harvested area (108133 ha), and production (1.4 million tonnes) of dates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

• In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there are 122000 date palm farm holdings. Among them, 80 percent are small farmers.

The mobile application for reporting pests and diseases infestation for eradication and the utilization of the extension

platform for other agricultural operation is gradually gaining significance among farmers.

Results

THANK YOU