seminar Problems of date palm cultivation and date production in the province of Misan

The Department of Geography at the College of Education, University of Misan, held a seminar this Sunday on 05/19/2019 entailed a lecture delivered by Prof. Kadhum Shanteh Saad (Ph.D.) entitled (Problems of date palm cultivation and date production in the province of Misan). It included various sections. The first section was the natural and human factors available in the province of Misan, which were the main reasons for the cultivation of palm trees. They included the conditions of climate, the nature of soil and water resources as well as labors, government policy, marketing and transport means. It was founded that the majority of those factors could encourage the establishment of palm cultivation and the possibility of expansion. The second section included the geographical distribution and preparation of palm cultivation. t was founded that about 75% of the date palms in the province is concentrated in the district of Amara with 53%, the second is the center of Qalaat Saleh with 22%. The palms are concentrated along the banks of the Tigris River and extend in the form of a strip ranging in width (1 – 2.5 km) and the width of this strip varies from region to region. Also, it was founded that the numbers of date palm in Misan province is about (306000) palm trees. This number decreased significantly during the period (1945-2005) due to many economic, political, social, military and other factors. The third section surveyed the problems facing date palm cultivation and date production in the province, which was represented by the prevailing of dry north-west wind blowing throughout the summer, as well as the scarcity , fluctuation of water resources represented by the Tigris River and its schedules in the province as well as the salinity of soil and water, poor prevailing tenure system, poor roads and means of marketing, diseases and agricultural pests that affect palm groves and finally poor cultivation. At the end of the seminar, there were discussions between the lecturer and the audience about some aspects related to the subject of the lecture.