Abstract
Dates are one of the most important crops in Saudi Arabia. Many of the cultural operations, and particularly harvesting, require the man to climb the tree and work at a considerable height from the ground. This is a dangerous operation further compounded by a severe labour shortage.
The overall size, reach ground clearance and power required by a machine was decided after a survey carried out in Saudi Arabia in 1985.
A prototype machine has now been manufactured and completed a set of field trials in 1989. It is slower to move and position itself at the tree but the harvesting can be carried out more conveniently and faster than traditional (hand) method. Recommendations stated that the machine can be simplified and made to work more conveniently and faster as well as the need for economic evaluation.