Date Palm

In Morocco, the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) structures the agricultural and cultural landscape of the Tafilalet, the Drâa, the Souss-Massa and Figuig. The palm grove is not merely an orchard: it is a complete agro-forestry system, called oasien, on three levels (palms, intermediate fruit trees, low crops), which makes human habitation possible in an arid climate.

i. Moroccan geography

Morocco counts about 5.5 million date palms spread over 50,000 hectares, mainly in the Tafilalet (around Erfoud and Rissani), the Drâa valley (from Zagora to M'Hamid), Figuig in the east, and the Souss oasis in the south-west. The cultivated varieties exceed a hundred, including the famous Mejhoul, Bouferguous, Bouskri, Jihel, Aziza Bouzid. Tafilalet Mejhoul has held a PGI since 2011.

ii. Related crafts

The palm feeds a craft chain: the wood for traditional framing (stipe beams), the fronds for basketry (tbeq, khoufa baskets, hassira mats), the fibres for rope-making, the stones for fuel. Palm basketry is a female activity in most oases; it also feeds tourism and interior decoration.

iii. Rituals and calendar

The nakhla sets the rhythm of the oasis year. Manual pollination (tlbir) takes place in spring, the maâlem climbing the tree with a flowering male spadix. The harvest (jniyya) begins in September. The date moussems — at Erfoud each October — celebrate the harvest and fix the wholesale prices for the season.

iv. Threats

Moroccan palm groves have been threatened since 1880 by bayoud, a fungal disease that has destroyed more than twelve million palms in a century. Replanting with resistant varieties (the PMV programme, then the Plan Maroc Vert 2008-2020 and the "Generation Green" 2020-2030 strategy) attempts to rebuild the orchard. Morocco's INRA leads the varietal research.

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