Date palm status and perspective in Mauritania

Abstract

The date palm population in Mauritania is composed of 2.4 million trees distributed in 217 oases in three representative states: Adrar, Tagant, and Laassaba and small number in two hodhs (basins). The number of cultivars varies from 75 to 250. About 65 % of date palms annually produce an average of 20,000 mt. of fruit. The Mauritanian people practice, in most cases, two types of agricultural activities, camel husbandry during 7–8 months of transhumance and traditional agriculture which includes the date palm during the rest of the year. Natural constraints including the silting of date palm groves, salinization of soil and water, and the traditional agricultural techniques used by farmers create a development impediment to the Mauritanian date palm sector. This sector is still traditional and lacks modern formal plantations to bring about true date commercialization. In order to develop the date sector, the Mauritanian government, with international cooperation, established several programs based on social organizations, equipment development in oases, building of capacity of human resources, and strengthening of agricultural research and extension services. It established the Project of Sustainable Oasis Development (PDDO) in 2002 to preserve the fragile but valuable oasis ecosystems and stem a rural to urban population exodus. Few studies were done to control major date palm pests or to analyze the genetic diversity of date patrimony using morphological characters or molecular markers. A morphological study covered 22 main cultivars in the three important regions. The correlation between numerous quantitative and qualitative characters was evaluated, and several discriminating criteria were selected. The grouping association of cultivars was identifi ed by cluster analysis using 75 characters. All cultivars studied were identifi ed, and the variability was evaluated. It was recommended to preserve this material and to improve it by mass selection and breeding programs in order to select new date palm cultivars of better production quality and wider adaptability.