The Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed that the country will have 25 million palm trees by 2027, up from the current 17.5 million. They have approved a program to propagate rare species, including an unknown variety.
The Director General of the Department of Horticulture at the Ministry, Hadi Hashim Al-Yasiri, stated in an interview with Al-Maalouma Agency that his ministry has created a program to propagate rare species of palm trees, including the Al Majhool variety which is difficult to propagate due to its low offshoot production.
He explained that the propagation program will have two main axes: tissue culture technique and seed method (nuclei), with seedlings limited to 100 within two stations, one in Mandali district of Diyala governorate and the other in Karbala governorate.
Al-Yasiri stated that a local variety with high quality and a selling price of 6,000 dinars per kilogram will begin propagating its offspring via tissue on January 1st.
He emphasized that the number of date palms in the country has currently reached 17.5 million and will increase to 25 million by 2027.
The Basra Governorate in Iraq had over 33 million palm trees in the mid-seventies of the last century, with more than a third of them located there.
