Prospects and challenges of date fruit value-addition in Oman

Abstract

Food loss and waste reduction efforts have received a lot of attention recently because of their importance in enhanc-ing food security and environmental sustainability. Value addition of agricultural products is the key to a higher production rate, fewer food losses, and hence more farm income and a better economy. In Oman, agriculture is represented as the first source of life and date is considered one of the most important permanent cultivated crops. This study aimed to evaluate the value addition process of the date palm products and reveal the challenges associated with the productivity improvement in Oman. Six prominent date value-addition factories were visited for data collection. The most date value-added products found were date with nuts, date syrup, and paste, and industries are using most popular date varieties Khalas and Fardh for the value addition processes. Raw dates are supplied by three farm catego-ries and four process mechanization levels were found in these factories. The financial productivity improvement due to the value addition were evaluated. Date with nuts found to be with the highest productivity ratio that reaching up to 540% in Khalas and 360% in Fardh. Highly productive factories had high mechanization levels (ML3–4). A broader improvement in value addition industry is essential to improve the productivities. This includes increase in number of small and medium enterprises, improve mechanization levels, technology transfer, and capacity building needs and additionally to improve the quality of value-added products which will positively affect the farm income and country’s economy.