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African Journal of Agricultural Marketing ISSN 2375-1061 Vol. 6 (6), pp. 001-006, June, 2018. Available online at 
www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

Author(s)                                           Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. 
 
 

 

Full Length Research Paper 

 

A study on the economic feasibility of date palm 
cultivation in the Al-Hassa Oasis of Saudi Arabia 

 
A. Al-Abbad1*, M. Al-Jamal1, Z. Al-Elaiw1, F. Al-Shreed1 and H. Belaifa2

 
 

1
National Date Palm Research Centre (NDPRC), P. O. Box 43, Al-Hassa-31982, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

2
FAO Project (UTFN/SAU/015/SAU), NDPRC, P. O. Box 43, Al-Hassa-31982, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

 
Accepted 04 March, 2018 

 
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an estimated 25 million date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) produces nearly 
a million tones of dates annually accounting for about 15% of the global date production. Our study on the 
economic feasibility of date palm cultivation in the Al-Hassa oasis of the Kingdom estimated the average 
annual yield of dates per palm to be 48.0 kg per palm with a selling price estimated at SR 4.00 per kg. The net 
income from date palm cultivation in the oasis was found to be SR 5800.00 / ha (SR 38.67 / palm). Significant 
number of farmers (23.00%) sell their produce in the farm itself, of which 57% is to known customers indicating 
sizeable “farmer-consumer” loyalty. Date palm farmers of Al-Hassa were also found to be quality conscious, 
and they adopt diverse measures (pre to post harvest) to ensure quality production of dates. SWOT analysis 
indicated spiritual attachment to the land by the farmers as a strength of the system, however; bureaucratic 
hurdles to obtain subsidies and lack of exploitation of facilities by traditional farmers, is a major threat to date 
farming in the oasis. There also exists a good possibility to develop logistics that support marketing of dates, 
especially through agricultural cooperatives, besides further enhancing exploitation of state subsidies for date 
palm cultivation. 
 
Key words: Date palm cultivation, economic feasibility, marketing, SWOT analysis, Saudi Arabia. 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 

 
The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L., is the main fruit 
crop of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), covering 
approximately 72% of the total area under permanent 
crops. With an estimated 25 million date, the Kingdom 
produces nearly a million tons annually accounting for 
about 15% of the global production. More than 400 
different date palm cultivars are reported to exist in Saudi 
Arabia (Anonymous, 2006a; Anonymous, 2009). The date 
palm is a multipurpose tree, providing food, shelter, 
timber products. The date fruit is a good source of food 
providing, fibre, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins 
besides having anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic 
properties (Baloch et al., 2006; Al-Farsi et al., 2005; 
Ishurd and Kennedy, 2005; Vayalill, 2002; Mohamed, 
2000). With an estimated three million palms the Al-
Hassa oasis in the Eastern Province is the largest in the  
 
 
 
*Corresponding author. E-mail: abbad9@yahoo.com. 

 
 
 
 

 
Kingdom where El-Baker (1952) listed 15 date palm 
varieties of commercial importance, while Asif et al. 
(1982) listed 25 cultivars from the Al-Hassa oasis. 
Further, Asif et al. (1986) grouped the Al-Hassa date 
palm cultivars based on the season of production. Khalas 
a mid-season cultivar is widely cultivated in the Al-Hassa 
oasis and considered by many as the best date in the 
world, with mostly medium to big sized fruits that are 
consumed as both fresh (rutab) and dry (tamar) dates 
which store well. Although the date cultivar Reziz has 
traditionally been the ruling date palm cultivar in Al-
Hassa, currently the cultivar Khalas is cultivated in more 
than 50% of the area (Al -Khatib et al., 2006; Al-Malha 
and Husseini, 2003).  

Despite surplus production of dates in the Kingdom, 
marketing of the produce at the national level has been 
weak, which may have been influenced by the closing of 
some date processing factories in the Kingdom, besides 
exports have not been to the expected level. Also, the per 
capita consumption of dates in the Kingdom has 

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Table 1. Estimates on cost of cultivation, production and price of produce of dates in the Al-Hassa oasis in Saudi Arabia  
 
 Size of No. of Depreciation of fixed Cost of Total cost with  

 

 plantation (m
2
) palms assets (SR) production (SR) depreciation (SR)  

 

   A. Estimates on cost of cultivation   
 

Total 754200 9889 3427937 1175155 4603092 
N= 30  

Mean 25140 330 114265 39172 153436  

 
 

       
 

 Size of No. of Value of produce 

Production (kg) Yield per palm (kg) 

Mean price 
 

 plantation (m
2
) palms sold (SR) per kg (SR) 

 

   B. Estimates on production and price of produce  
 

Total 754200 9889 2029410 440790 1451 129.00 
 

Mean 25140 330 67647 14693 48.38 
N=30 

 

4.00 
 

 
 

 
Table 2. Cost of cultivation and income (per hectare and per palm) from date 
palm in Al-Hassa oasis of Saudi Arabia (2009).  

 
 Cost / Income Per hectare( SR) Per palm (SR) 

 Fixed cost 5193.86 34.63 

 Variable cost 17805.48 118.70 

 Total cost 23000.00 153.33 

 Income 28800.00 192.00 

 Net income 5800.00 38.67 
 
 

 

significantly decreased over the years while the 
production has increased. This has impacted production 
of dates negatively, in spite of all support from the 
Government. The Kingdom currently has 64 date 
processing factories (Anonymous, 2006b, Anonymous, 
2006c; Anonymous, 2009b; Al- Shuaiby and Ismael, 
2007). The objective of this investigation is therefore to 
study the economic feasibility of date palm production in 
the Kingdom, by determining the cost of production and 
net income generated from the cultivation of date palm in 
1 ha in the Al-Hassa oasis. This was achieved by carrying 
out economic analysis of descriptive and quantitative 
variables that influence date palm cultivation, through 
field surveys (questionnaires), analyzing Ministry of 
Agriculture, KSA data and taking up SWOT analysis to 
determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and 
threats of date cultivation. 

 

 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 

 
Primary data on the cultivation of date palm in the Al-Hassa oasis 
was collected in the field through personal interviews of both 
farmers (producers) and also from the market (traders) that 
answered questions in a questionnaire prepared for the purpose. In 
the first model, questions pertaining to both fixed and variable costs 
were addressed and were based on an average of 150 palms per 
ha and the average annual production of dates per palm was 
estimated to be 48.0 kg. The selling price of 1 kg dates was estima-
ted to be SR 4.00 per kg. In all, 30 respondents were interviewed in 

 
 

 
different locations of Al-Hassa to gather basic data pertaining to the 
cost of cultivation, production and income from date plantation. 
Data collected for this study is presented in Table 1.  

In the second model, the questionnaire of seven questions 
revolved around agricultural practices namely pest control, sorting 
of produce, storage of dates etc. that influenced the quality of dates. 
The fixed and variable costs were computed based on the formulae 
presented in Table 6. Further, some other formulae are: 
 
Income per ha = Number of palms per ha x Average production per 
palm x selling price per kg of dates. 
 
Net income per ha = Income per ha - Cost of production per ha. 
 
Subsequently, based on the findings SWOT analysis was carried 
out to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats 
pertaining to the economic feasibility of the cultivation of dates in 
the Al-Hassa oasis. 
 

 

RESULTS 

 
Cost of cultivation and income 

 

Data presented in Table 2 reveals that the cost of 
cultivating date palm in Al-Hassa was estimated to be 
SR23000.00/ha (SR 153.33/palm) which includes the 
fixed (SR 5193/ha) and variable costs (SR 17805/ha). 
The income generated was estimated to be SR 
28800.00/ha (SR 192.00/palm). The net income from 
cultivating date palm in Al Hassa was therefore SR 



  
 
 

 
Table 3. Method of selling the produce (dates) in Al-Hassa oasis of Saudi 
Arabia.  

 
 Method of selling dates Percent of over all sale 

 In farm 23.00 

 In the market 40.00 

 Directly to factory 37.00 
 
 

 

5800.00/ha (SR 38.67/palm). 

 

Marketing of dates 

 
In Al-Hassa, date palm farmers were found to market 
their produce in three different ways (Table 3) ranging 
from disposing the produce directly in the farm (23%) to 
selling dates in the market (40%) and factories (37%). It 
is pertinent to mention that a sizeable number of farmers 
(57%) who sell the produce in the farm, sold dates to 
known customers, indicating a great degree of customer 
loyalty probably due to the quality of the produce. 

 

Quality enhancing practices 

 

Table 4 indicates that 100% of the date palm farmers 
studied were quality conscious and took care to 
incorporate measures in their farming practices (pre and 
post harvest) to enhance and safe guard the quality of 
their produce. Majority of the farmers (57%) practiced 
thinning of fruits. This practice is known to increase the 
fruit size and also prevent shriveling of dates. Results 
presented in Table 5 also reveal that 100.00% of the 
farmers discarded defective fruits from their produce 
thereby enhancing quality of the produce. However, only 
20.00% of the respondents practiced sorting of dates 
according to fruit size. Further, 73.00% of the farmers in 
this study used chemicals (sulphur) for combating the 
menace of mites, Oligonychus afrasiaticus attacking date 
fruits. Table 4 also shows that 100.00% of the date palm 
farmers in Al-Hassa used a plastic film on the ground 
while harvesting, thereby preventing damage to the 
harvested dates and accumulation of foreign particles 
(sand, palm refuge etc) in the produce. However, none of 
the farmers practiced fumigation of produce to combat 
the menace of insect pests in stored dates. 
 

 
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of 
date production 

 
Analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and 
threats (SWOT) is fundamental to the success and 
profitability of any commercial venture and is a valuable 
tool in strategic planning for the future. Our study (Table  
5) revealed that the date palm farmers are spiritually 
attached to their land/farm which is a significant strength 

 
 

 

of the system. However, children of the farmers do not 
have such an attachment which is a weakness that may 
hamper date palm cultivation in the oasis in the future. 
Diverse markets to sell the produce with good 
infrastructure and Government support for date cultivation 
is a significant strength of date cultivation in the Al Hassa 
oasis. However, poor relationship between the farms and 
date processing factories and poor exploitation of 
facilities/in fracture to enhance production and marketing 
of dates is a weakness.  

Although, the date cultivar Khalas is popular and 
suitable for cultivation in the oasis, relying on a single 
cultivar can pose a challenge in the future as a 
monoculture system of farming can pre-dispose date 
cultivation to attack and quick spread of pests and 
diseases in the future. Further, we found that there exists 
a good possibility to develop logistics that support 
marketing of dates, especially through agricultural 
cooperatives, besides the possibility of further enhancing 
exploitation of state subsidies for date palm cultivation. 
However, bureaucratic hurdles to obtain subsidies and 
lack of exploitation of facilities by traditional farmers were 
found to be a threat to date cultivation in the Al Hassa 
oasis (Table 5). 
 

 

DISCUSSION 

 

The Ministry of Agriculture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has 
estimated the cost of cultivation of date palm in Saudi 
Arabia to be SR 15179.90/ha on the basis of a study 
taken up in 13 regions of the Kingdom (Anonymous, 
2006a) which includes both the fixed and variable costs. 
However, our study has revealed that the total cost of 
cultivation to be SR 23,000/ha in Al-Hassa in 2009. This 
increase in the cost of production can be attributed to the 
rise in the cost of several production factors including 
men and material during the last five years. The net 
annual income per hectare of date palm was estimated to 
be SR 39,436 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Kingdom of 
Saudi Arabia (Anonymous, 2006a). In contrast, our study 
indicates a fall (26.90 5) in the net income from 1 ha of 
date palm, which was estimated to be SR 28,800. This 
decrease in the net income is due to several factors 
including increase in production, low storage capacity of 
dates at farmers’ level and decline in the per capita 
consumption of dates in the Kingdom. 



 
 
 

 
Table 4. Importance attributed to quality date production at farmers level in Al- Hassa oasis of Saudi Arabia (Model –II).  
 
    Quality improvement related functions  

 

S/N 
Care for 

Thinning Removal of Use of 
Plastic film on 

Sorting of Fumigation against  

quality ground during  

 
of fruits defective fruits chemicals fruits storage pests  

  harvesting  

       
 

1 Yes Yes Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

2 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes Yes No 
 

3 Yes No Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

4 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No 
 

5 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

6 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

7 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes Yes No 
 

8 Yes No Yes No Yes No No 
 

9 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes Yes No 
 

10 Yes No Yes No Yes No No 
 

11 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

12 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

13 Yes Yes Yes Mixed Yes No No 
 

14 Yes No Yes - Yes No No 
 

15 Yes No Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

16 Yes No Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

17 Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No 
 

18 Yes No Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

19 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes Yes No 
 

20 Yes Yes Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

21 Yes No Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

22 Yes Yes Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

23 Yes Yes Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

24 Yes Yes Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

25 Yes No Yes Sulphur Yes No No 
 

26 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No 
 

27 Yes No Yes No Yes No No 
 

28 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No 
 

29 Yes No Yes No Yes No No 
 

30 Yes No Yes Not known Yes No No 
 

Yes (%) 100.00 57.00 100 73.00 100.00 20.00 0.00 
 

No (%) 0.00 43.00 0.00 27.00 0.00 80.00 100.00 
 

 
 

 

With regard to marketing of dates our study indicated 
that several farmers sold their produce to known 
customers, indicating a great degree of customer confi-
dence and loyalty, probably due to the quality of the 
produce. This also assured the farmer a better price.  

Further, only 23% of the date palm farmers in Al Hassa 
sold dates to the date factories, indicating lower prices 
offered by the factories for the produce. There is an 
urgent need to develop an export strategy for Saudi 
Arabian dates that would assure sale of surplus dates 
from the Kingdom, which in turn would result in better 
prices for the farmers which were estimated to be only 
SR 4.00 per kg in our study. El-Sabea (2010) proposed 
enhancing exports of Saudi Arabian dates through 

 
 

 

marketing cooperatives. Quality production of dates was 
found to be an important criteria for the date farmers of 
Al-Hassa as 100% of the respondents were quality 
conscious and took care to incorporate measures in their 
farming practices (pre and post harvest) to enhance and 
safe guard the quality of their produce. These practices 
included thinning of fruits (57%). This practices has been 
recommended by several workers to improve the size of 
dates and also to prevent shriveling (Tahaer, 1983; Al-
Darwish and Ben Abdallah, 2010). 100.00% of the 
farmers discarded defective fruits and used a plastic film 
on the ground while harvesting, which assured quality 
production. These practices have been recommended by 
the Ministry of Agriculture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to 



  
 
 

 
Table 5. Strength, opportunities, weaknesses and threats (SWOT) related to date palm cultivation in Al Hassa oasis of Saudi Arabia.  
 
Strengths Weaknesses  

 
1. Spiritual attachment to the land (farm) regardless of the economics. 

 

 

2. Diverse ways to market dates in the oasis. 
 

 

3. The cultivar Khalas is suitable for cultivation in Al Hassa and other regions of 
the Kingdom. 

 

 
4. Good infrastructure for date production and marketing in terms of irrigation, 
electricity, motor able roads, agricultural research centers , Government support 
for date palm cultivation and marketing etc. 

 
Opportunities 

 
1. Possibility to develop logistics that support marketing of dates viz. agricultural 
cooperatives. 

 

 
2. Possibility of exploiting state subsidies to enhance date cultivation in the 
oasis.  

  
1. Children of the farmer do not feel the same 
way (children lack attachment to the farm). 

 

2. Poor relationship between the farms and date 
processing factories. 

 

3. Significant increase in the production of the 
cultivar Khalas resulting in lower prices for this 
premier date. 
 

 
4. Poor exploitation of facilities / in fracture to 
enhance production and marketing of dates. 

 

Threats 
 
1. Lack of awareness among farmers to join 
such associations / cooperatives. 

 

2. Bureaucratic hurdles to obtain subsidies and 
lack of exploitation of facilities by traditional 
farmers. 
 

 

 
Table 6. Fixed and variable costs formulae.  

 
Cost Formula 

Average fixed cost per palm Average fixed cost per hectare / Number of palms per hectare 

Average variable cost per palm Average variable cost per hectare / Number of palms per hectare 

Total production cost per hectare Average fixed cost per hectare +Average variable cost per hectare 

Average cost of production per palm Average fixed cost per palm + Average variable cost per palm 

Average cost to produce one Kg dates Average cost of production per palm / Average production per palm 
 
 

 

ensure quality production of dates in the Kingdom 
(Anonymous, 2009b; Anonymous 2006a). The damage 
caused by Mites, O. afrasiaticus, to date fruits reduces 
fruit quality considerably (Dhouibi, 2005). Date palm 
farmers (73%) of Al-Hassa were aware of this problem 
and used chemicals (sulphur) for combating this pest.  

However, none of the farmers practiced fumigation of 
produce that is known (Al-Zumaiti, 1997) to combat the 
menace of pests in stored dates. SWOT analysis 
indicated strong attachment to the land as strength of 
date farming in the Al- Hassa oasis. Further, bureaucratic 
hurdles to obtain subsidies and lack of exploitation of 
facilities by traditional farmers were perceived as major 
threats to date farming in the oasis. There also exists a 
good possibility to develop logistics that support 
marketing of dates, especially through agricultural 
cooperatives, besides the possibility of further enhancing 
exploitation of state subsidies for date palm cultivation in 
the oasis. 

 
 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 

Institutional support provided by the National Date Palm 
Research Centre, Al- Hassa, Saudi Arabia to take up this 
study is gratefully acknowledged. The authors also wish 
to thank Dr Abdallah Ben Abdallah (CTA, FAO Project 
UTFN/SAU/015/SAU) for assisting in the preparation of 
this manuscript. 
 

 
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