Sustainable Farming

Using the best farming practices, Bateel’s cultivation techniques are kept as close to nature as possible. Date palm trees can live as long as a century and produce up to 150 kilograms of fruit each year.

Every date palm is watered from the naturally occurring desert wadi, transforming the landscape into a fertile reserve. Our strategically placed irrigation system is channeled across the farm to enable farmers to recycle and preserve the readily available water of the land.

Bateel groves produce nearly 2,000 tonnes of organic waste per year, all of which is returned to the farm as nutrient-rich compost. We take great pride in our overarching organic ethos and continue to innovate, using unique sustainable methods for abundant yields.

The species are dioecious – meaning there are males and females – and pollination is dependent on human assistance. Bateel painstakingly places branchlets of male white flowers amongst female blossoms in a process that requires constant care and attention. Only female trees produce fruit and, once pollinated, the tree begins to produce fruit after six years.

Branches of our date palms are regularly thinned, even if it means cutting away 50 percent of the fruit. The thinning process ensures optimum air circulation and space, so the remaining fruits grow to their best potential. As they begin to ripen, maturing dates are enveloped in well-ventilated cloth to deter birds and insects, which also helps avoid the use of pesticides.

Bateel harvests more than 3,000 tonnes of the highest quality, organic dates a year. Staying true to tradition, Bateel farmers climb the date palms, often up to 20 metres several times over the course of the season in order to hand-pick each date at the perfect time.