The date palm culture is part of our heritage and our food and social habits throughout history, and it has formed an important part of our social and religious values. The date palm is part of our literary and poetic heritage and has played a role in art and painting. The date palm has been recorded. The palm tree lives in the desert, endures thirst and salinity, and serves the environment and the population in these remote areas. It is human-friendly in the desert. Many people from the countryside and the countryside are engaged in its cultivation, care, production and its primary and secondary products, so that it is considered an economic pillar and part of the economic and agricultural transformation programs in areas where only the palm tree can live, produce and give as the palm tree gives. The palm was registered as an intangible human cultural heritage in UNESCO in 2019.
The volume of investments in the dates sector amounted to more than half a billion dollars, and production quantities amounted to about 32 thousand tons annually, and this constitutes about 75% of the Kingdom’s needs of dates, and this constitutes a significant contribution to supporting the national economy, and the number of workers in this sector is about 8 thousand Male and female workers, 40% of them are women. One of the most prominent features of this sector is the reduction of migration from agriculture to other sectors
Jordan exports about 18,500 tons of Mejhoul dates (mainly) and then Barhi, to 15 global markets, the most important of which are: the UAE, Qatar, Morocco, Lebanon, the British market, France, Turkey, and Europe in general, in different quantities. The value of date exports is estimated at about 50 million dollars annually, while the production of dates is estimated at about 100 million dollars annually, and this contributes to supporting the national economy. Jordan’s Medjool dates can be stored for a period ranging between one and two years, frozen at minus 18 degrees Celsius, without causing tissue damage as a result of deep freezing.
The existence of transit and bilateral trade agreements between Jordan and the countries most in demand for dates contribute to facilitating the Jordanian trade of Mejhoul dates and making them available fresh from the trees to the consumer directly.
A number of food industries are based on primary and secondary date products such as molasses, date paste, stuffed dates and dates coated with chocolate. Local production covers more than 75% of the local market needs of dates.
Jordan imports about 14 thousand tons of dates annually, while it produces 32 thousand tons of Mejhoul and Barhi dates and some other varieties. The amount available for local consumption is about 30 thousand tons, i.e. a consumption rate of 3.3 kg per capita annually, which is one of the lowest rates of consumption for date-producing countries.