Caring for the tree and crop
Date palms provide food and income in Saudi Arabia, and cultivation requires care from planting an offshoot to gathering the fruit. Tasks include irrigation, fertilisation and removing dry fronds. Irrigation methods include flooding and drip systems: adequate water supports fruit growth, while too little or too much can harm the tree and crop.
Pollination and bunch protection
Male date palms supply pollen, while female palms bear fruit. Growers transfer pollen to female flowers by hand or mechanical means. Crop care also includes thinning the fruit load, tying bunches to reduce breakage, and covering fruit to limit damage from birds and insects. The details of these tasks depend on the variety and growing conditions.
Al-Ahsa as agricultural heritage
Al-Ahsa Oasis in eastern Saudi Arabia illustrates the relationship between palm groves, water and human settlement. Farming there was organised around the distribution of spring water through canals, alongside wells. The oasis entered the World Heritage List as an evolving cultural landscape in 2018. This designation concerns the Al-Ahsa property, not every date-palm farm in Saudi Arabia.
Related topics
- RegionQassim RegionAn inland Najdi region administered from Buraydah, associated with trading towns, date cultivation and markets, and the geographical corridor of Wadi Al Rummah.
- RegionEastern ProvinceA large eastern Saudi region administered from Dammam, combining Gulf cities, the oases of Al Ahsa and Qatif, desert areas, energy industries and maritime commerce.
- HistoricAl-Ahsa OasisThe world's largest self-contained oasis according to Guinness World Records, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018 as a cultural landscape of human interaction with the environment.
- HistoricWadi BishaWadi Bisha is a wadi among the largest of the Arabian Peninsula, in Bisha Governorate in the Asir Region, and its length exceeds 450 kilometres. King Fahd Dam stands on its course with a storage capacity of 325 million cubic metres, and along its banks are date-palm cultivation, the 'Al-Sifri' dates, and rock carvings numbering more than 10,000.
- EventBattle of KanzanThe Battle of Kanzan was an engagement fought in the vicinity of Al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province during the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, part of King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud's response to the tribes that attacked trade and pilgrim caravans in eastern Arabia. It came after the capture of Riyadh in 1902 and the annexation of Al-Ahsa to the Saudi State in 1913, and was followed by his confrontation of the rumours spread about his death after his meeting with the Ajman warriors.
- HistoricKabsaKabsa is a traditional Saudi dish and one of the popular foods of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, known across the Gulf Cooperation Council states as machboos and in Al-Ahsa Governorate as majboos. It has been adopted by George Mason University in the United States on the menu of its international restaurant, and it appears at heritage festivals and events inside the Kingdom and beyond.
- HistoricAflajAflaj is a traditional irrigation system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that conveys water from springs, wellsprings and channels to agricultural land, and one of its most prominent models is known locally as the buried channels (Al-Kharaz) in Aflaj Governorate in the Riyadh region. The Al-Ahsa Oasis offers a broad model of spring and channel networks that have developed through modern projects to convert them and raise their efficiency.
- HistoricWadi DisahWadi Disah is a valley in the north-west of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve and the south-west of the Tabuk region, about 200 km south-west of the city of Tabuk. It holds freshwater springs, towering rock pillars and Nabataean tombs carved into the rock, and its farms produce mango and nabq; it lies within a development project announced by the Public Investment Fund.
- HistoricAl-Heda'aAl-Heda'a is an art of light verse recited to delight camels and urge them onward through traditional oral expressions that enable herders to call their camels, gather them and communicate with them; it is known as camel Al-Heda'a and is passed down by the people of the Arabian Peninsula from generation to generation. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led the file for its inscription on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in cooperation with the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and it was inscribed on 30 November 2022.
- HistoricTarout IslandTarout Island is a Saudi island in Qatif Governorate in the Eastern Province and the fourth-largest island in the Arabian Gulf, containing Tarout Castle, the town of Darin and more than 11 heritage sites. Its development direction was approved in 1444 AH/2022 with an estimated budget of 2,644,000,000 riyals, within more than 19 quality initiatives that aim to raise the number of tourists to 1.36 million by 2030.
- RegionBuraydah CityBuraydah is a Saudi city in Qassim Province, known for a dates economy in which Qassim's production reaches more than 390,000 tons annually and its dates are exported to more than 100 countries. The city is home to the water tower registered in the National Register of Modern Urban Heritage and to the Aqilat Museum, and it has been included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for gastronomy.
- RegionQatif CityQatif City is a Saudi city in the Eastern Province, on the shore of the Arabian Gulf, known for its palm oases, date farms, fish market, Tarout Island and the town of Darin. Its development is reinforced by the approved development direction for Darin and Tarout Island, waterfront projects and health and leisure services.
- RegionHofuf CityHofuf City is a city in Al-Ahsa Governorate in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It holds Ibrahim Palace, the Bay'ah House, the Amiriya School and Al-Qaisariya Market, and together with the Al-Ahsa Oasis it forms one of the most prominent examples of architectural heritage in the country.
- RegionSakaka CitySakaka City is a Saudi city in Al-Jouf region, home to the archaeological landmarks of Za'bal Castle and Sisra Well, alongside service and development projects and seasonal festivals.
- HistoricAl-Qarah MountainAl-Qarah Mountain is a natural and historical landmark in Al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province, known for its caves and rock passages that formed over centuries. Al-Ahsa contains an oasis inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2018, and the mountain may be visited daily from eight in the morning until eleven in the evening.
- RegionBisha GovernorateBisha Governorate is a Saudi governorate in the Asir Region of southern Saudi Arabia, centered on Wadi Bisha, one of the largest valleys of the Arabian Peninsula. It is known for King Fahd Dam, the largest concrete dam in the Middle East, for date cultivation, and for its rock-art sites and the historic Tabalah center.
- RegionUnaizah CityUnaizah City is one of the historic towns of Qassim Province, and its history is bound up with commercial, agricultural, and scholarly activity that helped shape its local identity. It holds prominent heritage and scholarly landmarks, among them the Al-Bassam Heritage House, the Al-Musawkaf traditional market, and the Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen Mosque.
- RegionAl Qunfudhah GovernorateAl Qunfudhah Governorate is one of the governorates of Makkah Region, and Wadi Hali lies in its southern part with its environmental and agricultural potential. The governorate holds historic and heritage landmarks, among them the historic mill on its coast and the Bani Isa popular market, and it is among the highest-producing governorates of the Kingdom for mangoes.