Dates

The farming of dates in Pakistan goes back hundreds of years. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in Arabia from the 6th millennium BCE (Sallon et al., 2020). Pakistan, being an Islamic nation, has had a long history of date palm farming. It is a part of the culture, with dates having significant cultural meaning in Islam. Date palm was never grown in Pakistan as a result of colonial rule, it has simply been cultivated over hundreds of years by Pakistani peoples themselves. The only thing the European colonialists seem to have done with the date palm is introduce it from the Arab world to the Americas (Rivers et al., 2013).

Dates are one of Pakistan’s greatest domestic products, with over 100 species of date grown in Pakistan (Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, 2022).

The date palm trees are grown in fields, in which it takes one tree 15 years to reach maturation. Afterward, trees can live for 60 to 100 years.

Dates are picked in bunches by workers, and then taken off their branches. The dates are then laid out to dry in the sun. When the dates are dry, they are taken in large quantities to markets.

Pakistani dates are in large demand. There has been a shortage due to the impact of severe flooding in Pakistan in the last season (2022). This has created less product to be bought by international buyers, and forced a decline in Pakistan’s overall exports, due to the lack of product. Markets in Pakistan that had seen 5 million dates per year were then only seeing around 500,000 dates, due to complete ruin of crops and stockpiles of dates (Insider News, 2022).

The dates are presumably first pitted, then shipped to Canada, where they are packaged somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area for sale by Walmart Canada.

Pakistan is in full control of their sales of dates. It doesn’t seem that anyone is blackmailing them or forcing them into debt slavery over their date palm farms. The greatest issue, which effects farmers, and the whole country of Pakistan, is the risk related to natural disaster. Pakistan sells its dates to countries all around the world for consumption. There is no shortage of buyers, therefore, Pakistan holds a lot of power when choosing who to sell it’s dates to.

The greatest changes to the system that should be made are those changes which can help farmers re-build their farms in the event of natural disaster. Before the 2022 flooding, farmers would make 300 Rs. ($1 USD) per day (Insider News, 2022). This may seem like little, but farmers are still able to save money with this wage. However, when disaster strikes, these little savings will be eaten up easily, and it will take thousands of dollars for farmers to re-build their plantations. In these events of disaster, it is important for multi-national organizations to help by stepping in, and giving countries the resources they need to help rebuild their economy and infrastructure. The UN’s Hand-in-Hand system, founded in 2020, is one such organization, which seeks to empower countries by giving them technology which can help them develop their agricultural sector, as well as pair up with “mentor” countries who can give advice as to methods which helped them develop, and which might work for countries who seek similar development (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 2020). As well, it may be helpful for the corporations who are buying produce from farmers in devastated crisis conditions to let consumers know how buying the product they are selling can make a difference. If Walmart were to campaign that these dates make a difference to farmers in Pakistan, who are experiencing complete devastation due to extreme flooding, it may be profitable for both Walmart and Pakistani farmers. Walmart may also be able to give something back from the sales of these dates to the farmers, or, if the dates are sold in greater quantity because of this campaign, Walmart will simply want to purchase more dates from Pakistan in turn.

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. (2020, August 31). Hand-in-Hand: Targeted & Collective Action for Sustainable Agricultural Transformation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNR1kIyGPA

Insider News. (2022, October 22). Millions Of Dates Rotted In Pakistan Floods, Now Farmers Are Left With Nothing | Insider Docs [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VZnZ9ZEMgQ

Rivera, Diego & Johnson, Dennis & Delgadillo, Jose & Carrillo, M. & Obón, C. & Krueger, R. & Alcaraz, Francisco & Ríos Ríos, Salvador & Carreño, Encarna. (2013). Historical evidence of the Spanish introduction of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L., Arecaceae) into the Americas. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 60. 10.1007/s10722-012-9932-5.

Sallon, S., Cherif, E., Chabrillange, N., Solowey, E., Gros-Balthazard, M., Ivorra, S., Terral, J., Egli, M., & Aberlenc, F. (2020). Origins and insights into the historic Judean date palm based on genetic analysis of germinated ancient seeds and morphometric studies. Science Advances, 6(6). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0384