Diyala plant transforms local dates market

DIYALA — A packaging workshop in Muqdadiyah is elevating the market presence of Iraqi dates by processing premium Breem dates with a focus on quality and aesthetics. At Hassan Al-Salman’s facility, 40 women work diligently to clean, sort, and pack the prized dates into attractive boxes designed to compete with imported products.

Each week, tons of Breem dates arrive from Suwayrah, Kut, Aziziyah, and Rashidiya and are stored in large refrigerators before being packaged for shipment to northern governorates. Annual distribution now reaches approximately 400 tons. Known for their soft texture, rich sweetness, and dark amber hue, Breem dates are enjoyed both fresh and processed.

“We buy Breem dates from Baghdad, Suwayrah, Rashidiya, and Tarmiyah, where they are widely grown,” Al-Salman said. “We have refrigerated storage halls, and I have rented five of them to keep production running year-round.”

The meticulous process includes three stages of cleaning. After an initial machine wash, workers inspect and hand-clean the dates to ensure superior quality before packing them into one-kilogram, two-kilogram, and three-kilogram boxes. “We have 38 female workers and 15 male workers, and we export to Zakho, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Mosul, and Kirkuk,” Al-Salman added. “We continue working until July, when the new harvest begins, and we keep going until the end of the year.”

Despite the high quality, local producers face stiff market competition. “Our prices are good when imports are low, but when imported dates flood the market, demand for local products drops,” Al-Salman explained.

For many in Diyala, the date industry is a family tradition. High school student Ammar Yasser, whose family runs an orchard, splits his time between school and work. “After school, I work in the orchard to help my father, and then I continue studying in the evening,” he said. “We have many orchards here with high-quality dates, and even though it’s hard work, it’s a beautiful profession.”

Local farms in the area produce between 400 and 500 tons of dates each year. However, farmers and producers continue to seek greater support to better market their products and compete with imports. The number of palm trees in Iraq has now surpassed 22 million, an increase of 5 million over the past three years. This progress brings the country closer to its mid-1970s peak of 30 million palms, a figure that declined due to wars and environmental changes.

The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture announced on Saturday that date production is expected to rise this season. In 2022, Iraq exported over 650,000 tons of dates, and in 2023 exports climbed to approximately 725,000 tons.