The Regional Conference for the Management of Date Palm Pests, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and the Minister of Presidential Affairs, and organized by the Ministry of Environment and Water in cooperation with the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, running from September 23rd to 25th, 2012 was concluded in Al Ain.
A number of experts and specialists in the field of date palm cultivation, dates production, and encountering palm pests from the countries of the region, have participated in the conference. The participants presented national papers which reviewed the experiences of the competent authorities in the Arab countries in the management of date palm pests.
During the conference, more than 30 working papers were distributed over four sessions, where these papers have reflected the Arab efforts in the protection of date palms, providing a forum for the exchange of opinions and successful experiences in the management of pests that threaten date palms, along with formulating an Arab common mechanism to protect date palms in the Arab countries, taking into account integration and all technical, economic, social, environmental, institutional, and legislative factors, and come up with recommendations and scientific processes that will promote and coordinate the joint Arab action to manage palm pests.
The conference was concluded with a number of recommendations, represented in the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development to organize an Arab conference to manage palm tree pests periodically every two years in one of the Arab countries, the initiation an Arab network to manage date palm pests, and the formation of a technical committee advisory that includes Arab experts, scientists, and donor entities, and among these tasks will be the making of an Arab expert system for date palms, in addition to the preparation of an Arab program proposal for the management of date palm pests, focusing on capacity-building, for human capital in particular, and to conduct studies on the most important economic effects of date palm pests in the Arab countries.
Other recommendations adopted at the conclusion of the conference sessions were that the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development will prepare a common Arab code for agricultural quarantine, the preparation of the registration and trading of agricultural pesticides law, and to communicate with national, Arab, Islamic and international institutions and funds to support the Arab Network for Palm Pests Management programs and projects especially for the eggs disease, the red palm weevil, the palm Dubas and stored dates pests.
The Ministry of Environment and Water organized a field trip for the delegates and the participants to Al Foah palm farms in Al Ain, to view the country efforts in the field of palm trees care and pest control, and organic dates production where Al Foah farms are out of many farms that acquired the organic product trademark certified by the UAE.