Hit expects 30,000 tonnes of dates as harvest opens

ANBAR — The date harvest has begun in Hit with about 30,000 tonnes expected this season, the district’s agriculture division says, and farmers reporting better quality and quantity than last year despite rain and cool weather during pollination.

Prices fall steeply as supply builds. Some varieties opened at 5,000 to 6,000 dinars a kilogram before dropping to 1,500 to 2,000, farmer Mohammed Abdul Aziz said. Yellow Khadrawi is selling at about 1,500 dinars, roughly a dollar, while Barban and Khiyara fetch around 3,000 depending on quality, according to trader Othman Mohammed Rabie, who said heat had sped up ripening and that he sold about 1.5 tonnes in a day.

Zahdi, still two months from ripening, goes wholesale at 700,000 to 800,000 dinars a tonne in Hit, Rabie said — against roughly 300,000 in some other areas, nearly three times less. He put the difference down to quality and to irrigation every three or four days, which produces fuller, less dry fruit.

Hit’s dates go to Ramadi, Fallujah, al-Qaim, Rutba, Erbil and Baghdad, with exports to Jordan and Syria beginning once volumes build.

Atheer Hammoudi, who heads the district’s agriculture division, said it was too early to compare properly with last year but the crop looked good and pest levels were low. The division handed out pesticide against dust mites free of charge and selected 50 farmers for support programmes run with outside organisations.