Iraq’s iconic palms are being revived together with their industry after half of them were lost due to the war.
Labeeb Kashif Al-Gitta took care of only 20 trees in a pioneer ‘adopt-a-palm’ programme, which aims to rescue Iraq’s national symbol and restore the country’s heritage. Four years ago, he started taking care of 20 date palm trees and today he has 12,000 under his care. He nurtured many of them back to health after they were abandoned.
The nation was once known as the King of Dates and since the 1980s their global share in the world’s date market stands at just 5 per cent. An estimated 30 million trees were lost during the conflict and the aim through the programme run by Nakhla, meaning palm tree in Arabic, is to restore 50,000 more trees by next year and in the long term see 1 million trees flourish in order to become the worlds biggest producer of dates.
The programme involves buying an annual subscription of $35-$75 (£30- £64) per tree. From there Nakhla will provide care for each tree which includes fertilising, pruning and harvesting. Skilled climbers are employed to climb the 40-foot palms to gather the fruit, which is then processed and sold. The palm owners receive a share of the profits. In a tandem model run in conjunction The programme is also run together with the Iraqi government, where businesses can sponsor trees on city pavements and in return receive tax breaks or a spot for a mini-billboard advertisement.
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- DSC_0051-2-1500×0-c-default 2: Nakhla