The Jordan Dates Association (JODA) and the National Center for Agricultural Research (NARC) organized the Palm Scientific Day in Jordan yesterday, Monday, at the National Center for Agricultural Research (NARC), in the presence of His Excellency the Director General of (NARC), Dr. Khaled Abu Hammour, representing His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture, Engineer Khaled Al-Hunaifat, sponsor of the ceremony. And Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Jordan Dates Association (JODA), Engineer Anwar Haddad, along with a large number of scientists, experts, and palm growers.
The scientific day included an important group of lectures related to the date palm sector and the latest scientific research, techniques, and innovations that were achieved at NARC, where papers were presented in on pests and diseases, irrigation, fertilization, heat cummulation, fruit peeling, types of bags used in palm trees, and research related to modern technologies.
His Excellency, the Director General of NARC, stressed the importance of cooperation with all sub-sectors in agriculture and the Center’s readiness to make more efforts for the sustainability of agriculture. He also praised the palm sector as a promising national sector.
On the one hand, the President of JODA, Engineer Anwar Haddad, stressed the importance of scientific research in raising the level of the sector and the quality of dates. He praised the efforts of the Center in the field of palm trees and thanked all those working in this field. Haddad stressed that the Association and the Center meet on the principle of the scientific approach on which the date palm sector in Jordan was based. He also emphasized the number of challenges facing the date palm sector, which require more applied scientific research. He also stressed that he will work with the center to make the Palm Scientific Day an annual day on which stakeholders meet with the researchers and experts. Haddad thanked the center and its staff for their efforts, and also thanked the audience, which included universities, research centers, and date palm growers in the Kingdom.
At the end of the day, a set of recommendations were agreed upon that will be adopted by both NARC and JODA.