Context

Dates are the most popular fruits in the Middle East, mainly because of their societal importance and high nutritional value. As such, date fruits are an important part of the diet and culture for the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The high temperatures and arid environment of the KSA likewise provide good conditions for date palm cultivation, being one of the few crops that can survive and produce well in the region. The KSA is one of the largest date palm producers worldwide; its production represents a multi-billion-dollar industry in the Kingdom. In 2016, Saudi Arabia’s production of dates reached around 1 million tons, and palm tree plantations cover an area of 145,516 hectares. In 2018, around 75,000 tons of dates were exported from the KSA, creating an export value of over 100 million USD (Dhehibi et al., 2018). In addition to domestic consumption, date fruits are the most appreciated gift bought from the KSA by pilgrims during either Haj or Umrah. For instance, 45,000 tons alone are purchased each year during Haj. Moreover, the continuous change in dietary style has promoted an increase in the consumption of dates in Europe as healthy food, which has positively influenced the date palm market. Date palms are facing major challenges including diseases and pests as well as drought and increasing soil salinity and poverty. The date palm field will be used as a date palm laboratory to engineer solutions to solve challenges in date palm.

Process

The plantation accommodates 109 date palm trees that are used as a small genetic population to study genetic diversity in date palms. We are currently using the field to evaluate date palm growth, flowering, and fruiting. We are using drones to generate datasets of multispectral and high-resolution images, to evaluate date palm growth and health.