Innovative Initiative to Support Small Farmers in Date Harvesting Season
In a move that is both solidarity-driven and strategic, the Kébili Date Professional Group has launched a groundbreaking initiative to support small farmers during the peak harvesting season. By providing access to high-capacity cold storage facilities, the group is reaffirming its central role in improving the storage and marketing conditions of dates, a vital sector for the regional economy. This ambitious action paves the way for better product valorization and offers farmers new opportunities to sell their produce at fairer prices.
Key Initiative Details
The Kébili Date Interprofessional Group has announced the availability of refrigerated storage facilities with a total capacity of 300 tonnes for small farmers to store their Deglet Ennour date harvests for a period of four months. This measure aims to reduce the difficulties faced by producers during the marketing season, particularly the strong pressure to sell at the time of harvest, which often leads to a drop in prices.
Objectives and Benefits
This initiative, which is fully in line with efforts to ensure better date marketing, also contributes to:
- Dynamizing the domestic market
- Stimulating local consumption
- Encouraging small farmers to store their harvests in better conditions to protect them from deterioration risks and benefit from better sales opportunities
Access to Cold Storage Facilities
The cold storage facilities are available to institutions, groups, or individuals wishing to store their dates in these spaces from November 23, 2025, to March 22, 2026, renewable. Any request must be accompanied by a dossier containing the necessary supporting documents:
- A copy of the national identity card
- An extract from the trade register for merchants
- Any document attesting to the quantity of dates to be stored
Application and Selection Process
The competent services will examine requests based on the market value of the product and exploitation criteria. The storage tariff will be fixed according to the operating costs of the cold storage facilities.
Growing Role of the Date Professional Group
This initiative highlights the growing role of the Date Professional Group in improving product quality, controlling logistical costs, and encouraging small farmers to adopt modern storage solutions. It is also part of a broader strategy to strengthen the quality of the marketing process and stabilize producers' incomes, especially in the current economic context.
Call to Action
Applications for membership are open during the current month, and producers are invited to finalize their dossiers before the end of November to store their dates as soon as possible, as the harvesting season is in full swing approaching December and January.
