Agriculture in Bahrain

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Despite the low rainfall and poor soil, agriculture in Bahrain historically was an important sector of the economy.^[1] Before the development of the oil industry, date palm cultivation dominated Bahrain's agriculture, producing sufficient dates for both domestic consumption and export.^[1] At least twenty-three varieties of dates are grown, and the leaves, branches, buds, and flowers of the date palm also are used extensively.^[1] From the 1950s through the 1970s, changing food consumption habits, as well as the increasing salinity of the aquifers that served as irrigation sources, led to a gradual decline in date cultivation.^[1] By the 1980s, a significant number of palm groves had been replaced by new kinds of agricultural activities, including vegetable gardens, nurseries for trees and flowers, poultry production, and dairy farms.^[1]