Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — With the holy month of Ramadan drawing near, dates available in the market are costly and are of very poor quality. Farmers ascribe this mainly due to the presence of palm weevil, which is generally considered to be the most devastating pest of palm trees in the Middle East and Asia. Farmers are critical of the inability of the Ministry of Agriculture to effectively combat this pest despite several complaints in this regard. Delayed action from the ministry will negatively affect the quality of date produced this season, the farmers believe. Abdulaziz Al-Tuwaijri, member of the national committee for date and palms, told Makkah daily that if the ministry did not tackle the issue quickly it has the potential of developing into a huge problem in the future that will have an immense impact of date production and quality. “The production is already hampered by the absence of skilled labor. Added to this is the inaction of the ministry on the pest issue,” he said. Several complaints to the ministry, Al-Tuwaijri said, have failed to cajole the officials to act, “but it appears they are in deep slumber.” A delegation of farmers, he said, even met the minister who promised immediate action. “We are still waiting for that to happen,” he said. Head of national agricultural committee, Eid Al-Maarek, said the Saudi market consumes 25 percent of the total date production during Ramadan while the remaining 75 percent is distributed all over the world. He said that the total revenue generated from last year exceeded SR8 billion, while he is expecting the revenue to exceed SR10 billion this year.
