Watch: The Faces behind Bahrain's Palm Trees
Nestled in the heart of the Gulf, Bahrain has always presented a vision of fertile oases amid the blue waters. In this video from the United Nations Information Centre in Manama, palm tree cultivation is in the spotight, which has been, for many centuries, an integral part of the socio-economic fabric, history and civilization of Bahrain and its people. Indeed, the Kingdom of Bahrain has long been known as the “country of million palm trees”.
Abdlallah, Jamil, Abdul Rasoul and Habib bin Khamis, four brothers, are nakhlawis, a Bahraini local dialect term for date palm farmers. They hail from a farming family and have cultivated palm trees their whole lives.
“I come here every day at 2:30 in the morning. We take care of the horses, and then when the sun rises, we move to the farm,” says Jamil.
“95% of our food comes from soil, and as the latest generation of a long line of farmers, the four brothers' story is an embodiment of the essential role local farmers play in producing products locally and achieving food security,” said Ahmed Ben Lassoued, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Manama.
Today, National Space Science Agency statistics show that the actual number of palm trees in Bahrain is around 250,000, with more than 23 varieties grown on the island, each with its own characteristics and taste.
“In the past, palm trees provided food, the material out of which we built our beds, and even the fire we used to cook rice was taken from it. Everything in life was linked to the palm tree,” says Jamil.
His brother Abdullah adds: “You know when it gets hot here, we can't grow anything except dates and nira. Plants like lettuce, cabbages, coriander, and parsley do not grow in the summer.”
The weather in Bahrain can get very hot, with daily temperatures surpassing 40 degrees for several months.
The bin Khamis brothers moved around gardens through the years as farming spaces shrank with urban development, which has had an adverse impact on soil and farming at large.
According to Habib: “the richer the soil and the better the water, the better the cultivation.”
“There is a big difference between sandy and clay soils. A sandy soil is light, and a clay soil is heavy (for cultivation),” said Abdallah.
The four brothers have been portrayed by Husain Al Mahroos, a Bahraini photographer in his photobook "Garden of Gemstones.” Al Mahroos started working on the project and photographing the brothers in 2006.
‘’I found that the experience of photographing gardens is very similar to that of photographing fishermen near the sea, in that both gardens and beaches are in the process of disappearing,” Al Mahroos wrote in his book.
The farm the brothers have been cultivating is in Budiya, on the outskirts of Bahrain’s capital Manama. The area used to be a large oasis. Today, it is situated in the middle of a busy, vibrant urban street. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2021-2024) and the UN Country Team of Bahrain are responding to the challenges posed by rapid urbanization, climate change, limited freshwater resources and local food production and food security.
For more information about the UN's work in Bahrain, visit bahrain.un.org.
