Date palm conference kicks off in Abu Dhabi next week

The event aims to present and promote research into the plant, which has historic and economic importance to the country.

ABU DHABI // More than 400 researchers and specialists from 39 countries are to take part in a conference on date palms in Abu Dhabi next week.

UAE University is hosting the International Date Palm Conference to present and promote research into the tree, which has historic and economic importance to the country, said Ali Al Noaimi, vice chancellor of the university.

“This tree is very close to our hearts,” Mr Al Noaimi said.

Participants are coming from 18 Arab countries and 21 others, including Ethiopia, Albania, the Netherlands, the US, Australia and Italy. New this year are participants from Georgia and Serbia.

This year is the fifth time the conference has been held since 1998, organisers said.

During that time, UAE University has also set up its Plant Tissues Culture Lab and Khalifa Centre for Biotechnologies and Genetic Engineering, as well as the Khalifa International Date Palm Award and the Palm Tree Friends Society.

Date palms are important to the UAE’s heritage and existence, said Abdelouahhab Zaid, date palm cultivation researcher and secretary general for the Khalifa International Date Palm Award.

“We are in the desert. The only crop that could grow in such harsh climactic conditions is the date palm.

“Without the date palm, there would be no life in the oases,” Mr Zaid said.

Canopies of date palms are very high and create a cooler microclimate in which crops that could not otherwise grow can be cultivated.

“If you take vegetables, for example, and go to the desert and plant them, they will die the next day. But if you have a canopy that protects them, then it’s different,” he said.

The UAE now has 42 million date palm trees. Biotechnology is a major resource for modern date palm cultivation.

“If you have one tree with good-quality fruit – if you want to propagate it in the traditional technique, you need centuries to produce several thousand. But with biotechnology, in test tubes, we are propagating about 150,000 plants every year, of the best cultivar,” he said.

The conference is to be held from March 16 to 18 at the Emirates Palace hotel, under the patronage of the President, Sheikh Khalifa. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and chancellor of UAE University, are expected to attend.