I recently ran across a statement by the secretary-general of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Fahd Al-Sultan. He complained of the competition to Saudi dates from Israeli ones. Dr. Al-Sultan spoke of the problems facing Saudi dates in foreign markets and cited the variety of Israeli dates as well as aggressive Israeli marketing tactics. Such competition, he went on, should force the Saudis to restructure their entire date industry, focusing on production and marketing policies.
For me it wasn’t an earth-shaking report. I have seen numerous advertisements by European companies who market palm trees and seedlings in the Kingdom. Today Britain is the leading exporter of palm trees to the Gulf region and the Middle East in general. This is despite the fact that British weather is known to be unfavorable to palm cultivation. We should not forget that it was the Arabs who introduced the palm tree to Europe when they controlled a good part of Spain — or Andalus as they called it.
Last year the British firm, Palm Developments of Somerset, exported 130,000 shoots to Arab countries in addition to 5,000 ornamental palms for decorating the homes of rich Gulf citizens. The company is not the only one which markets its products in the Kingdom. Over the years, it has developed strains of improved dates not found even in the palm groves and gardens of Madinah or along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq.
In fact, in the 1940s the United States imported 100,000 seedlings from Basra in southern Iraq for planting in California. Thanks to the state’s soil and advanced research, the California palms are today the most productive in the world — with an average yield of 70 kg per tree compared to 50 kg in Israel and 37 kg for a Saudi tree.
Although I am not one to whine about misfortunes, I do feel that the World Trade Organization is partly to blame for this. Poor countries are blessed with diverse and rich natural resources but lack funds and so are prevented from turning their resources into huge food and chemical industries. Knowing these countries will remain locked in poverty, industrial nations worked to steal their genetic secrets in order to develop their own superior products. Now under WTO rules, these secrets are the exclusive rights of rich nations and any attempt by poor countries to retrieve the stolen property would amount to violation of intellectual property rights. I suppose next they will want to clone a camel.
Arab News From the Local Press 4 May 2003
