The Northern Governorate takes the lion’s share of Bahrain’s 265,000 palm trees, with more than 128,400 located across its 12 constituencies.
There are around 73,000 palms in the Southern Governorate, 41,600 in Muharraq and 19,500 in Capital.
The statistics were released by the National Initiative for Agricultural Development (NIAD) through the newly-launched comprehensive database for the sector, www.agro.bh
“A Geographic Information System (GIS) study was used to map out palm trees and their geographical distribution within the four governorates in Bahrain,” NIAD said on the platform.
“This was done to enable researchers and investors to carry out studies, especially in the field of food security in Bahrain. It includes estimating the production of each palm tree.”
According to NIAD, the study was conducted in collaboration with the National Space Science Agency (NSSA) as palm trees have great cultural, economic and nutritional importance.
The NSSA had earlier reported that a young team of Bahrainis employed artificial intelligence techniques for automatic monitoring of palm trees in Bahrain. The project was also extended to study the botanical indicators of each palm tree. Satellite images were used to study their health and vulnerability to environmental pressure and other factors such as the red palm weevil, plant diseases and environmental pollutants.
“Bahrain was called the country of a million palm trees due to its denseness in palm orchards and their presence since ancient times,” said environmental expert and Northern Municipal councillor Dr Sayed Shubbar Al Wedaie.
“Palm trees were directly linked to the life of the community as people depended on them as a source of livelihood. The fronds were used to build summer and winter homes while the fruit was used for sustenance or to feed livestock.
“Palm wicker was used to make tablecloths and containers for preserving dates, to store clothing while tools were also created for fishing and fishing nets.”
Dr Al Wedaie expressed concern over ‘shrinking’ of palms across the country.
“Palm trees can be easily planted across different locations. This made it an important element of food security in historic times during which many communities were poor and had to struggle for their daily meal,” he said.
“However, unfortunately, palm groves are now shrinking due to rapid urbanisation, bulldozing of arable farming land and declining and depleting ground water.
“This has led to the death of a large number of trees, turning Bahrain into an importer, instead of an exporter. We need to develop a comprehensive long-term strategy to restore palm trees.
“We need to provide alternative land to owners so that the country’s green belt can be preserved.”
reem@gdnmedia.bh
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