During the last season, from January to March, Desert Fruit Namibia has proudly produced high quality Barhi dates. These have just been exported to Abu-Dhabi, Dubai, Indonesia, Maldives, Singapore, UK and Switzerland as well as the royalty houses in the Emeritus, which is a great honour for Desert Fruit Namibia.
Charles Edmonds of Desert Fruit Namibia was pleased with the harvest in 2018. He elaborates: “Barhi is a unique fresh date eaten in a fresh state before it is naturally dried. It is regarded as a delicacy in the Middle and Far East where it is more widely known. Desert Fruit Namibia produces three varieties, which can be eaten fresh and these must therefore reach the target market and customer within a time-span of 72 hours.” Charles thanked all partners involved, ranging from employees to cross-border controls and AMTA for the great service which contributed towards the fact that the product reached the customer as fresh as possible.
Most date connoisseurs let the unique yellow Barhi date dry halfway naturally to enjoy most of the sweet, crisp and caramel flavours. The trees start flowering in August and are harvested from late January through to March. “Although the 2018 tonnage was small, the quality was superbly high. Technological advances will be capitalised on in 2019 to allow a growth in tonnage to meet the market demand. Desert Fruit Namibia is one of only two farms in the southern Hemisphere which delivers fresh dates to the Northern Hemisphere market – out of season. This makes the company and Namibia special and unique and puts us on the world map – albeit in a smaller market,” concludes Charles.
Careful harvesting and packaging of the Barhi date takes place by hand at Desert Fruit Namibia. Numerous employees at Desert Fruit Namibia have been trained to harvest this product carefully to minimise damage and produce the best product.
