Medjool date is the best and most expensive commercial variety in the world. In occupied Palestine, each hectare of Medjool dates with an average yield of 10 tons of dates per hectare generates an income equal to 37,800 dollars. Each kilogram of first-class Medjool dates of this variety is sold at prices higher than 20 dollars in the target markets in the world.
The origin of this figure is Morocco. Currently, the countries of Israel and the United States are the major producers of this product in the world with a production equivalent to 30,000 and 5,000 tons per year. These countries have been able to create a monopoly in this profitable market by using new methods of international marketing and following the export standards of agricultural products.
Dates of Medjool
During the last two decades, the tissue culture technology has solved the problem of mass production of seedlings of this variety with the tissue culture module. Therefore, its cultivation is rapidly increasing in all date-growing areas of the world, and especially the FAO organization has a comprehensive and codified plan for the development of its cultivation in African countries (Namibia) and Central and South American countries. Economic yield (about 10 tons per hectare), large fruit size (weight more than 20 grams per fruit), small seed (about 1 gram), high meat-to-seed ratio (93%), thin skin, soft, crispy and delicious meat. The possibility of harvesting and supplying the product to the market in two forms, wet (20-26% moisture) and semi-dry dates (16-20% moisture) and the high price in the global markets per kilogram (more than $20) are among the special features of this variety. .