Haikou, China: UAE date palm varieties are expanding across China, with trees bearing fruit in inland regions for the first time after earlier success in Hainan Province.
According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, the date palm harvest season has concluded in Wenchang City in Hainan Province, Yuanjiang County in Yunnan Province and Panzhihua City in Sichuan Province.
The harvest marks the first time UAE date palms have produced fruit in significant quantities in China’s inland regions after first bearing fruit in Wenchang in 2025.
The report said eight UAE date palm varieties produced fruit again at the Wenchang base, while 52 palms at the Yuanjiang base and 125 palms at the Panzhihua base bore fruit for the first time.
In 2019, the UAE announced the donation of 100,000 date palm seedlings to support the development of date palm cultivation in China.
The first shipment of 1,500 seedlings was delivered in 2021 and achieved a survival rate of approximately 93 per cent. It was followed by a second shipment of 23,500 seedlings as part of efforts to strengthen agricultural cooperation and the exchange of scientific and technical expertise between the two countries.
The initiative aims to support food security, economic development and agricultural diversification in China.
According to Xinhua, UAE date palms have gradually spread from Wenchang to other parts of Hainan, while cultivation trials have expanded to inland areas with suitable climatic conditions, including dry-hot valleys in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.
In Yuanjiang County, a two-hectare experimental cultivation base was established in October 2024 and planted with nine varieties of UAE-donated date palms. This year, 52 palms from eight varieties produced fruit for the first time.
In Panzhihua City, a China-UAE experimental date palm cultivation base was established in June 2025. The site contains 942 palms from nine varieties spread across more than four hectares.
In July, 125 palms produced fruit just one year after planting, according to the report.
