Date Palm Mechanization

Dates are major horticultural crop in Middle East region. It is the major fruit crop of arid deserts, in tropical and subtropical areas of the world including Gulf Cooperation Council of Northern Africa and Southern Asia. In Pakistan date palm are grown in four provinces. The area under cultivation of date palm is 98.7 thousand hectares with total production 735 thousand tons. The date palm of Sindh is mainly concentrated in district Khairpur and it is the biodiversity centre for the date palm having more than 300 varieties, which is also major date producing district of Pakistan. The Agriculture Extension Services play an important role in agriculture development by improving agricultural practices and adopting new production technologies in farming.
The data used in this study was collected directly from date palm growers in district Khairpur using specially designed questionnaire. Data were collected through field survey in date palm growing area. The 60 growers in the study area were selected for this purpose. The Field survey was conducted regarding use of various inputs in date palm orchards, planting method of newly planted offshoots, irrigation, pollination, cultural practices, protection from pests & pathogens etc. The aim of present study was to conduct survey and to improve agricultural practices in date palm orchards & to disseminate information for production technologies to date palm growers.
It was concluded from the survey that awareness level of the respondents varied too much for different aspects of crop and orchard management. In general not very large percentage of growers was aware of latest developments in the field.
The study therefore recommends agricultural extension programs to date palm growers, stakeholders, researchers and Government. The data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS. A secondary data source was also used to draw out results and suggestions.