Iraqi Lab Produces Resilient Date Palms

By Simon Kent.

Biologists at the University of Basra have produced lab grown date palms which they say can better endure disease and problems of salinity and climate change which have decimated a once thriving date industry.

Iraq used to produce over a million tons of dates a year, until war and other adverse conditions reduced yields dramatically.

The new research, assisted by ICARDA (the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas) will hopefully provide a wider, more profitable range of date types for Iraq, diversifying away from the Zehdi variety to seven other types.

(Source: NRT)