Initiative launched to promote date palm cultivation in North Sinai

CAIRO – 11 July 2018: The government has recently introduced new initiatives to promote palm date cultivation, which is considered North Sinai’s most important from of agriculture.

Along the west cost of Al-Arish city and Bir El-Abd village, clusters of date palm dangling from the branches of palm trees can be frequently seen. North Sinai is considered Egypt’s top home-grown date palm markets.

Cultivation of date palm and processing it into commercial products has been a traditional profession inherited through generations; thus the call for new advanced methods was recently initiated by ministries of social solidarity and investment and international cooperation to upgrade the traditional industry.







Both ministries launched an initiative to develop date products industry in North Sinai. The project focuses on empowering young people and training them to use and invest in natural resources in their villages.

Sobeih el-Shafei, supervisor of the project, said in press remarks on Wednesday that the project offers training programs for villagers in North Sinai on the advanced methods of date palm cultivation, harvest, processing into commercial products and packing.


He added that the role of the project is to train women and young people to increase their income by taking up the popular craft; the project also helps them find local outlets for their products.

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Noura Ghonmi, a trainee, said she was trained to replace kernel of dates with peanuts and chickpeas, and to store them in suitable containers.

Meanwhile, another trainee, Amira Salman, added that she and 15 of her girl neighbors are regularly attending the new training, which is considered one of a kind.

“We are offered an opportunity to learn new ways of the production practices of the date palm present everywhere around us,” Salman added.

Egypt’s exports of dates rose by 32 percent in the first quarter of 2017, compared to the same period last year, amounting to 17,300 tons against 14,200 tons in 2016, Ministry of Industry and Trade stated.