Promoting Agricultural Value Chains
In the OIC Member Countries
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However, a variety of challenges are noted. At the production level, these include the high
incidence of pests and diseases, and high levels of bacterial contamination of dates. As many
farmers continue to sell their produce through traditional, mostly informal marketing
channels, few incentives exist to enhance quality through improved agricultural practices and
post-harvest management.
At the processing part of the value chain, facilities operate well under capacity which points
towards a gap between growing national date production on the one hand and increased
specialization opportunities, which could create and satisfy demand for processed date
products.
At the trade level, export levels remain low, particularly to high income markets. The majority
of dates are exported to countries that have experienced considerable political instability of
late, which makes the respective markets highly volatile and uncertain.
At the same time, a number of opportunities to enhance the performance and competitiveness
of the date value chain have been identified. These encompass organic date production, taking
advantage of the newly established infrastructure for organic certification, and product
diversification to increase the value added, such as processed and manufactured date
products. Critical for both is a focus on quality management to reduce the percent of
widespread bacterial contamination of dates. The modern marketing channel seems to be
particularly suitable to explore these opportunities, as systems of quality control and
traceability are already in place. Efforts should be undertaken to integrate more date farmers,
who usually sell through traditional marketing channels, into the modern date value chain.