Palm Cultivation in Socotra: An Essential Part of Daily Life and Cultural Heritage

Abstract

On the island of Socotra characterized by outstanding biodiversity and endemism, the cultivation of palm trees has imminent economic and cultural significance. As the literature on Socotra mostly tackles its ecosystems, conservation, development, and culture generically, this chapter digs deep into the relationship between palm trees and the traditions, culture, and livelihoods of the local inhabitants. Building on field visits and interviews with elderly locals, farmers, and inhabitants with traditional knowledge and expertise, we demonstrate the embeddedness of palm trees in the daily lives of Socotrans. We closely describe traditional processes and methods of palm cultivation, pollination, pruning, fruit thinning, harvesting, and preserving fruits from the wind—a method only unique to Socotrans. We describe that these processes are incorporated into the Socotran everyday life and preserved in its language. Therefore, preserving the Socotran language and local traditional knowledge is inevitable in the conservation of palm cultivation practices. Further, problems and obstacles facing palm cultivation, natural and institutional, require capacity strengthening and support to be overcome. We conclude with a set of recommendations tackling these obstacles, most important of which is a scientific-based strategy aiming to empower palm cultivators and strengthen their capacity to deal with new threats that they haven’t been traditionally facing, introducing new agricultural cost-effective methods, and attracting investment to enhance farmers’ livelihoods while preserving their culture, language, and their island’s ecology.