Medjool Dates
Project Description
The oasis is renowned for palm trees. Atlas Siwa’s location in the western desert, Siwa Oasis, gives us the perfect conditions and the opportunity to cultivate the highest quality of palm trees, one type being the Medjool palm tree.
Medjool dates are considered one of the finest dates in the European and American market, making them connected to export and therefore foreign currencies.
We plan to cultivate and produce high-grade Medjool dates for export, and introduce the opportunity for investment.
The project is based on two pillars, the first being the cultivation of the Medjool dates in Atlas Siwa’s farms in Siwa Oasis. The location was chosen based on its agricultural suitability, since the location meets all the necessary conditions to plant the Medjool dates.
The second pillar is the exportation of the dates to be sold abroad, since there is an obvious high demand on the Medjool dates in the international market. This is owing to the lack of producers who are able to meet the quality of exportation, as well as the fact that the dates are priced highly in both domestic and international markets.
Project Starting Date15.4.2019
Project EndIn Progress
CategoryAgriculture & Investment
Agriculture Process
The cultivation of Medjool palm trees requires areas with plenty of sunshine for the best growth. Palm trees do not prefer rainfall, and that is why the oasis is a perfect match for palm trees to grow and produce the highest grade of dates. Atlas Siwa has started the planting of almost 50 acres, and is scheduled to cultivate 50 acres more by 2019, making the total cultivated land 200 acres of Medjool palm trees by 2020.
Our operations worked on preparing the soil for the cultivation process, as palm trees require well-drained, deep, sandy, loam soils. The soil should have the ability to hold the moisture, be free from calcium carbonate, and should not have any hard pan for better root development. We used off-shoots emerging from the base of mother palm trees, as propagating seeds may result in poor-quality fruits, whereas using off-shoots would result in higher-quality dates.
Palm trees are perennial in nature and have a long life of about 50 years. It is essential to have proper spacing between the plants from the outset. On our site, we adopted the square planting system and a distance of 10 meters between the rows is maintained for proper growth. The plant density is about 40 plants per acre and 5% of those must be male off-shoots to provide adequate pollen-grains, since dates are dioecious fruits.
Work Scope
Palm tree dates will be ready for harvesting after 4 years of planting, but yield would be less in initial stages. We process the stage using the most efficient and careful methods in order not to harm the fruit, and ensure the highest quality level by using natural and beneficial drying techniques. The harvest of Medjool dates would start around 10~15 KGs, and would reach approximately 80~100 KGs at older ages (in the 8th year). Most of Atlas Siwa’s production is exported and placed in the international market, which would benefit the national economy.
- Product Exporting
- Research and development
- Quality and valuable product
- Investment Opportunity