MUSCAT: Omanis have maintained a close relationship with date palms since ages. They nurture it with a lot of care. And the effort is very rewarding: fruits that constitute their ‘food’ as well as fronds, a revenue-earner.
Date palms go through two different stages before growers can start reaping harvest. First is the pollination followed by harvesting, which also includes storage, consumption and sales.
Pollination starts after what is locally called ‘Teyah al Sarda’ (a very cold period). A variety of dates are grown, which are locally referred to as ‘Al Battash’, ‘Al Meznaj’ ‘Al Manhi’, ‘Al Gidmi’, ‘Al Naghal’, ‘Umm al Sala’, ‘Qash Thamid’ and ‘Qash Qaroot’, among others.
Mubarak bin Ali al Galandani said the selection of plant variety is important for success of the pollination process.
The waiting period for sprouting is more than two months. Next stage involves the pulling down of data stalk to a level where farmers can reach during the harvest season.
Pollination process varies according to the type and quality of the plant, the date palm, the weather and humidity. The process takes days depending on how farmers deal with it.
Some prefer to wait for opening of all pollen, while others prefer doing it individually for each pollen.
Farmers are warned against delaying the process of date pollination until the time the date palm clusters turn green in colour because it could result in failure of the pollination process, as in the case of Al Naghal variety. — ONA
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