One of the harshest criticisms of bio-ethanol industry is that the move to produce bio-ethanol from biomass means stripping the world of important resources for feeding its human population, at a time when we are experiencing a demographic explosion the like of which has never been seen in the history of mankind.

This observation is fundamentally sound, but should be tempered in the case of the date sector. First of all, because, in the case of the date palm, unlike other biomasses, the products associated with bio-ethanol fuel production are for human consumption. Furthermore, in terms of value, date-based bio-ethanol production accounts for nine per cent of the turnover of the processing sector, while its main associated products—date coffee and date fibres, both for human consumption—could amount to more than 80 per cent of processed-product value. This is because unlike beet roots, maize or sugar cane the date is a fruit!

Through the rational exploitation of date groves, adopting silviculture methods, it will be possible to recycle four per cent of all date groves (particularly the one too old to offer a good yielding) as animal feed each year. This is a rate that can be reasonably achieved, and will mean that areas used to grow grain for animal feed are free to turn their attention to human consumption! This is only possible in the case of date-palm cultivation, since it is a prolific permanent crop, unlike the other bio-ethanol biomasses, which are intensive secondary crops low in biomass!
     
In fact, bio-ethanol from palm trees is really feeding the world. This is all the more justified since, in its areas of expansion, the date palm does not encroach upon any other crop. Giving absolute priority to date palms in no way impinges on the development of other crops. As a permanent primary crop, the date palm possesses its own means for growth entirely independently of other arable crops, yet without standing in the way of their expansion.

Given its nature as a permanent crop that develops effective protection against sunlight, the date palm aids the better exploitation of an agricultural area hitherto considered of little use due to its exposure to sunlight. Furthermore, the oasis system is built around this principle, and the possibility of extending the oasis model beyond its traditional boundaries warrants consideration, for deployment with emphasis on the intensification of the date groves and complementary to other co-planted agricultural crops and the cattle breeding sector.

Better still, the expansion of date production on a massive scale does not mean impoverishing agricultural biodiversity. Whereas the major part of world food supply relies precariously on a handful of crops, such as wheat, maize, rice, potatoes, sugar cane and bananas, all of which are sensitive to disease and climate change, the expansion of date production will not exclude co-planted tree or food crops, or accompanying production such as small-animal farming, as is seen today in traditional oasis areas. Combined agriculture, mixing arable crops and livestock, is often the most sustainable form of agriculture for a region.

To make this scheme a successful one, the down stream oil sector has to play a significant role. In Spain, one of the major European producers of bio-ethanol, the industry took a lead because the oil sector is strongly integrating the bio-ethanol into the blend of its pool of fuels. If this industrial model were to be validated, bio-ethanol would progressively become the Arab World’s primary agricultural crop supplying to the energy sector.

At the same time, this industrial model would mean the meteoric development of the products associated with bio-ethanol production from dates, which include: date coffee, dietary fibres, biological CO2, animal-feed proteins, animal feed, wooden panels made from date stones, and activities related to the use of associated date grove products such as paper made from palm branches, wood, and innovative construction materials (for doors, windows, frames), etc.

Co-planting between date palms could increase the range of crops intended for import substitution. Finally, livestock rearing, rather than developing according to an intensive model, could increase in scale following an extensive model, along small farming lines and far more in keeping with the ecological models that are necessary for the protection of the environment in a semi-arid environment.

Bio-ethanol would, in a sense, become the Arabs’ primary agricultural crop, playing a fundamental role as an agent of growth for the entire agricultural sector, through the adoption of an oasis model in constant expansion in the desert and semi-arid areas in the region. Bio-ethanol from palm trees can feed the world.

— The by-products’ added value:
Bio-ethanol is the mainstream of transformation of dates. Meanwhile, because dates are a fruit, the by-products from dates are very rich. Dates stones have got an incredible high carbon content (more than 50 per cent) which gives to them dazzling characteristics. It also contains edible oil. Date fibers are of prime quality and constitute a very valuable and healthy feed for human consumption. Our strong R&D department has been able to develop numerous innovative products from those by-products and in certain configurations most of the incomes (up to 85 per cent) are coming from those by-products.