Page 480 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

72

There arc no bees on Bahrain and pollination is left mostly to the wind and to certain
insects. There is no doubt that certain vegetables, notably the cucurbits would give greatly
increased yields if it were possible to keep bees on the island, but several attempts by locals
have not been successful presumably because of insufficient nectar food during the summer
months. In each attempt the bees were brought from Egypt and lived on Bahrain only three
or four months, before dying out.
Lucerne is grown on all “no date” cultivations ; commonly to the extent of 60 per cent,
of the land, and in date plantations it is sometimes intercropped with the date palms in the less-
shady areas. It is often down for five or six years (and occasionally until the land is completely
exhausted) and within that period it may have been cropped thirty or forty times : during
spring and early summer when the crop is most productive, it may be cut approximately every
five or six weeks, while in autumn and winter harvest may be every eight or nine weeks. Some
idea of the relative productivity in spring and autumn may be gauged from the fact that in
spring (April) a maund(approximately 56 lbs.) sells at 12 ans. while in autumn (November) the
cost is Rs. 4 or approximately five times as much.
It is always broadcast by hand in irrigation beds cultivated to a fine tilth at a rate of between
40-50 lbs. per acre. It may be planted in October, March, April or May, the best time being
early March. Seed is grown locally and is always to be preferred to foreign seed imported from
other parts of the Gulf notably Saudi Arabia.

Lucerne and Berseem (Egyptian Clover) which is sometimes grown and used oddly enough
as a vegetable are perhaps the only leguminous crops of any success. Ground nuts, Soy beans,
Lupin, and garden peas, have all been tried at Budaiya Experimental Centre with very little
success. Lupin proved a complete failure ; Ground nuts too uncertain ; Soy beans yielded a
fair weight of seed and showed so much promise that it would be wise to repeat crop trials,
selecting early-maturing varieties and planting in April ; garden peas were partially successful,
the innoculated seed being quite productive.
The date, until a few years ago, was the staple food in the local diet and was therefore a
crop of great importance but with the great prosperity which oil has brought to the State and
consequently a more varied diet, the date is now of much less importance. It is not true to say,
however, that the demand has fallen. It has not fallen simply because the population of
Bahrain has increased considerably (22 per cent, in the last nine years) while date growing has,
if anything, decreased. Imports of dates (from Basra) are much higher than previously. But
individual consumers for the most part, having more foods to choose from nowadays, do not
purchase dates in quite the same quantities they used to. Nevertheless the date crop is the
foundation of Bahrain’s agriculture and as such is just as important as ever.
Bahrain produces about two-thirds of her date requirements and although there has never
been a count taken of the number of trees (there is no date-palm tax) it is estimated that there
are between 400,000 and 600,000 trees.
In general the local technique of date growing is very poor. From the very beginning the
date shoot receives indifferent attention from the grower : it is hacked away from the parent
with the type of crowbar which one might use for breaking stones, having little or no face, and
this is often done before the shoot has reached the required stage, showing good roots on
excavation. The practice of inducing the shoot to strike roots while still parasitic to the
parent, is either not known, or ignored.
The time of year for removing and planting shoots is late February or early March but here
again no care is shown, it being the occasional practice to plant in October or November. The
shoots are planted direct to the garden without any nursery or intermediate stage (as is some-
times practised) and the chances of the shoot growing into a mature tree are about one in twenty.
Small crops may be expected four years after planting and full bearing crops at eight or nine
years.
Hand pollination is done in the usual way about early March ; that is as soon as the
female spadices begin to burst open. Harvesting extends from early July to late September and
considering the fact that trees are never manured and no cultivation around the trees is ever
practised, surprisingly good yields are often found. It is claimed that certain trees have given
250 lbs. of dates in a season although the average yield is about 80 lbs. in the plantations and
perhaps 30 lbs. in the desert and around villages.