Revitalizing date palm production with an innovative method for sexing plants

It takes five to six years after planting a palm tree to find out whether the plant is male or female. This means farmers growing these plants endure a very long wait, particularly when only the female palms bear fruit. According to estimates, on average, only half of a palm grove planted from seed will be female, meaning the other half will never produce any fruit. Around 40,000 families in Djibouti now depend on these crops, but their productivity and development are significantly affected by the considerable time needed to identify female plants.

“Date palms are the only means of subsistence for many farmers, but that's not the only reason why they are so important,” says Dr. Abdourahman Daher, Director of CERD's Institute of Life Sciences. “Dates are an essential food resource because they are rich in energy, vitamins, fiber and minerals. Palm trees also create a micro-climate with benefits like providing shade for other vegetable crops that wouldn’t survive without them.”

Date palms not only play an important economic role, they also help stabilize ecosystems in these regions where few plant species can grow due to low levels of rainfall and porous soil.

Together with CIRAD, the IRD research center has been studying the genetics of these plants for several years to try and improve date palm yields. As a result of this research, the first genetic markers for differentiating between male and female plants were identified in 2012. Since then, work has been done to optimize this technology and develop a simple, inexpensive method for identifying the sex of these seedlings after just two to three months: “We collect a leaf sample, extract the DNA and use a PCR technique [which specifically amplifies the plant’s sex markers] to sex the seedlings,” says Dr. Frédérique Aberlenc, Research Director at IRD.

Following the boom in molecular biology laboratories during the Covid-19 crisis, the team also realized that this technology could be applied to a variety of situations. A laboratory was set up at CERD in Djibouti with the support of the IRD/CIRAD team to trial this method with the farming community directly. “We identified two major needs: first, identifying the sex of palm trees that have already been planted, and second, producing sexed seedlings for new plantations,” adds Dr. Frédérique Aberlenc. Farmers will be able to germinate seeds of their preferred varieties and sex them a few months after planting, making it easier to select female plants.

Research teams estimate that only 5% of plants need to be male to pollinate a plot, which could make production of these crops significantly more profitable.

CERD and IRD/CIRAD are also planning to create nurseries for the community and for professionals. One nursery will be run by an agricultural cooperative and the other will be managed by a private owner. Growers will be trained to produce these plants in greenhouses so that sexed date palm seedlings can be grown and distributed according to precise specifications and a financially viable business model. “The challenge is to establish an entire collection chain, from planting seeds to germination, harvesting and processing of fruit, while sharing information with the farming community,” says Dr Frédérique Aberlenc. To ensure this approach is sustainable over the long term, producers will receive all the information and training they need to manage palm groves.

The pilot phase of this initiative is being implemented via stage-1 funding from FID. “We are testing this innovative project under real-life conditions to ensure that it meets farmers’ needs,” says Dr. Abdourahman Daher. If the results produced are conclusive, this approach could be rolled-out to all the family-run palm groves in Djibouti, as well as to other regions of the Sahel, and particularly Niger and Chad. “This project has massive potential. Once the testing phase is complete, we really hope that this innovative method will be available to everyone, especially the most vulnerable communities.”