Amid climate change threat, Saudi Arabia moves to beef up date palm genetic bank 

Amid climate change threat, Saudi Arabia moves to beef up date palm genetic bank 

RIYADH: To further protect and save plant genetic diversity, Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Palms and Dates registered more than 127 types of local and international date seeds, making it the most significant date palm genetic bank in the world.

The center in Al-Ahsa plans to increase the number of date varieties and raise the number of dates registered to 200 by 2027, the center’s director, Khalid Al-Husseini, told Arab News.

Saudi Arabia has approximately 30 million palm trees that produce nearly 1.5 million tons of dates.

Al-Husseini said most of the dates registered at the center are “compatible with nature,” because the soil is suitable for most types of dates. He said other varieties come from the US, Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq.