After Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan ranks amongst the largest date producing nations in the world.
In Pakistan, many areas are used for the cultivation of dates, but Kech and Panjgur districts of Balochistan have a extraordinary popularity in this regard.
The reason for this is that more than 40% of the dates used in Pakistan are produced in the districts of Kech and Panjgur in Balochistan.
According to a conservative estimate, about 150,000 tonnes of dates are currently produced in Turbat, Kech, on a total region of 24,200 hectares.
If we talk about about date production in Pakistan, the Panjgur district of Makran division and Turbat, Kech are on the top. At present, 106 sorts of dates are cultivated in Pakistan, but totally a few kinds are well-known and widely used in the market.
Palm bushes are known as 'much' in Balochi and their season which starts off from the month of May to September of the 12 months is referred to as 'Hamin' in Balochi.
The last month of the date palm season is known as 'Hirat' via farmers and local people, and the fruit is given exquisite names in specific regions. As in Turbat it is regarded as 'Nah' while in Panjgur it is regarded as 'Hormag'. While the human beings of specific areas of Balochistan comprehend it as Hormag.
Some of the famous varieties of dates embody Begum Jangi, Mozati, Elini, Shukri, Gok Nah, Pushpak, Jadgali, Nigah, Kungo, Hussini, Kuruch, Sabzu, Abdandan, Kunzanbad, Gonzali, Dandari, Dashtari and many others.
Until a long time ago, the majority of the locals used to earn through date palm cultivation. With the passage of time, due to lack of water in Karizat, palm cultivation has commenced to decrease.
Another one of the factors for the decreasing level of cultivation is the lack of scientific data and information regarding date palm cultivation via farmers.
Dates are regarded a treasured and precious presenting in these areas and the people of Kech specifically prepare and ship them to their family and friends from Gulf countries, Karachi and Godar alongside with Quetta for the fasting month. In Balochistan too, the demand for dates increases in this month.
Maqbool Alam, the character who brought Makran dates to the global level, says in this regard that "due to the lack of market, our dates have to now not be widespread to the world level, as there is a market in Karachi and Quetta, there the landowners promote their fruits. however there is no such market in Turbat."
Alam went on to say that "the farmer is simply waiting for a consumer to come from Karachi or Quetta and we can promote our property and pay off some of our debt."
According to him, Seths coming from outdoor buy ready-made fruits at exorbitant costs but the local farmer can't sell his goods till they reach Karachi or Quetta.
He said that the farmers do not know much about better farming practices but there are in fact many approaches to modernising domestic farming scientifically, however our farmers are still using the historic methods.
According to Maqbool Alam, the 'Mozati' form of date palm is world-famous and most of its manufacturing takes place in Makran, Balochistan, however Iran has registered Mozati underneath its very personal name, due to which Iran is getting its royalty.
As per Alam, there is currently only one storage in Kech, Turbat which has a storage capacity of 1,000 tons. While the production of dates in Kech is 140,000 tons. According to him, there is a want for cold storage in many greater areas due to production.
A dealer promoting Begum Jangi dates says, “We make Begum Jangi in one of a kind ways. As made by way of mixing it with sesame seeds, we call it Kanchati Nah. Also we combine it with Shiraz and put together it in cans which we name Shirgi Nah in Balochi.
A new scheme has been launched to help date farmers in Balochistan province, below which dates will be bought from Balochistan and exported to the world underneath the identify of Makran.
Here, traders outside buy these dates from farmers for PKR 25 to 30 per kilogram and pack them in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and special Arab international locations and sell them for dollars.
Due to this situation, around seventy percentage of date palms in Balochistan get damaged in the orchards.
Through NLC, Equatorial Dates from Balochistan can be supplied for Rs.100 per kg or greater and delivered to Karachi where it has the potential to be despatched to the world as a Pakistani manufacturer beneath the become aware of of Panjgur.
It be referred to that 450,000 to 650,000 plenty of dates are produced yearly in Pakistan. According to the reputable data, 6.5 million dates had been produced in Pakistan in 2004. But later due to the wet season, this manufacturing lowered to 4.5 million tons.