Forests of date palms growing in arid desert — a sight never seen before — could become a reality if a fledgling business venture takes off.

Raju Thupran hopes to produce drought–resistant date palms on a commercial scale. Date palms do not naturally grow in forests, but if he succeeds they could be cultivated in this way with minimal irrigation on even the most parched land.

Thupran, a landscape engineer at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), also plans to produce palms that can thrive when irrigated with seawater or are resistant to the red palm weevil, a pest that kills off date palms and causes the trunks to break.

All this is some way off, however, as Thupran’s plans are at an early stage — which makes him an ideal choice to receive funding from the KAUST Seed Fund Program. He is one of eight applicants awarded a total of almost $1 million in the first round of this Economic Development Department initiative.

Thupran has worked in landscaping for 18 years and the business idea came to him during the seven years he has spent in the Middle East.

"When I travelled in the region I noticed in some areas date palms growing without any irrigation, the trees just survive," he said. "No one is irrigating them and they are not rain–fed, there are no rains."

"Those particular date palms have an ability to withstand drought. So we will identify these palms and try to identify the genes that are responsible for drought tolerance. If we succeed we could produce small plantlets and eventually we would be able to plant these date palms in drought areas without the need for irrigation — they would survive on their own from the available rainwater.

"You cannot say this is a forest species but still you’ll get something that is similar to a forest if we plant these date palms together. We could bring forests to the desert, and this has never been possible before."

Thupran plans to send out survey teams to bring offshoots from palms back to the laboratory where the drought–resistance genes would be identified. Existing micropropagation techniques — where tissues are used to create plantlets that eventually grow into trees — would be employed. Tests would then be carried out on the offspring to check that the desired genes were present.

The same methods would be used to produce saltwater–tolerant trees and palms that are resistant to the red palm weevil.

"The weevil is a very serious and destructive pest which is spreading alarmingly day by day and year by year," added Thupran. "A single weevil can travel 1km a day and there are no effective measures that can control it."

"I have seen many palms in the Middle East that were very healthy then all of a sudden you see the trunk is breaking in two. The weevil attacks the trunk and feeds on the interior tissue and the tree breaks down."

"If you see 100 date palms of the same variety and age and grown with the same management practices in a row and 90 are infested while five or 10 are not, there is a reason behind that. So we locate these palms. We will get the offshoots and examine the tissue in the lab and try to identify which genes are responsible for the tolerance or the resistance."

Thupran"s funding will be paid out in installments over the next three years as he reaches a series of milestones. At the end of that period he expects to be in a position to seek commercial partners — and he believes the idea has considerable potential.

"I would expect to sell 500,000 plantlets in the first year of production. A normal palm plantlet costs $25 but my ones would command a premium of 50 per cent."

The project is of considerable significance to Saudi Arabia, the world’s third largest producer of dates. And it has relevance even closer to home as 10,000 palms have been planted on the KAUST campus — and according to Thupran between three and five per cent are infested by the weevil.

Thupran, 44, from the Indian state of Kerala, moved to KAUST last year with his wife Nisha and seven–year–old son Ananthu. He has a BSc in agriculture from Kerala Agricultural University and an MCJ from Madurai Kamaraj University at Tamil Nadu, India. He has worked in Qatar, Oman and the UAE, where he helped to landscape prestige projects in Dubai such as the Palm Jumeirah and the grounds of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa.

He has undergone an internship and training in organic farming from Canada and is the author of The Green Earth, a textbook for agriculture students. He wishes to manage the date palms on the campus organically.

Help for Innovators Who Mean Business

The Seed Fund Program offers finance and support to students, faculty and staff at KAUST who wish to develop their ideas and discoveries into commercial ventures.

The first eight recipients will share a total of $988,000 and receive additional funds from the university to cover administration costs. Raju Thupran was awarded $75,000 plus an additional $97,000 for administration.

For a list of other winners: Student Entrepreneurs Win Grants In First Seed Fund Round

Applications are now being accepted for the second round of grants and should be submitted through the University’s portal. Inquiries about round two and the Seed Fund Program should be sent to and further information can be found within the Seed Fund web page.