Introduction:
Massive profits can only be earned if the high yield of any crop is accompanied by the processing and value addition of such agricultural crop. In this scenario, date palm is considered a high exchange earner in the international market if processed scientifically (Yusoff et al., 201). A decade ago, the date palm processing industry only focused on multiple conventional methods regarding washing, drying, preserving, packing, labelling, etc. But now, special solar dryers are being used around the globe, especially in developed countries. In such a dehydration process, extraordinary chambers are used at multiple temperature ranges depending on the date varieties (Salomón-Torres et al., 2021). This PESTLE analysis will factually elaborate on Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors affecting date palm drying units in the countryside. In addition, it will focus on the current trends concerning these said factors in a logical manner.
Political Factors:
The political scenario leaves a lasting impact on the success or failure of such firm units, especially in the countryside. Currently, the political landscape is crucial in the country concerning the stability of government authorities. So the policy formulation to help the investors in infrastructure on the part of the government is a blue moon (Albrecht, 2022). Moreover, the Brexit event has lashed the agro-industry badly due to uncertainty and fluctuation in taxation policy. In addition, some tremendous debacles include bureaucratic malfunctioning, accompanying corruption, delaying policy decisions, complex business regulations, and lingering files for approval (Ridley, 2019). In other words, the overall political factors accompanying administration problems may breed discomfort.
Economic Factors:
The primary economic dynamics revolve around the export potential of the processed product in alliance with labour. In other words, such a unit may breed jobs for men and women in the lower and middle classes. In this context, lacking access to sufficient international markets and deficient support prices may be a challenge to handle in the future. In addition, labour cost issues, high-interest rates on loans, fluctuation in exchange rates, and high taxes from the government authorities may hinder the smoother running of such units (Álvarez et al., 2019). Similarly, maintenance costs may become monsters in alliance with the increased commodity prices. However, it has the potential to contribute to the country’s GDP and help to alleviate poverty, especially among the countryside masses.
Sociocultural Factors:
However, sociocultural factors are favourable concerning drying units as enormous human resources may be available in the countryside. In addition, no cultural, religious, ethnic or racial debacles are there to hinder the progress. Social Taboos among populace strata in the country do not impede such units. However, consumers’ dieting habits and purchasing priorities on the domestic level are not encouraging. Because in the country, the consumption of dates in the context of social or religious perspective is not practiced compared to other countries of the world. In the current scenario, the lack of awareness among the masses concerning date fruit usage is a challenge. On the other hand, proper training, especially for a low literate labour populace, may be a hindering factor for the progress and development of this business.
Technological Factors:
As far as technological factors are concerned, technology usage is mandatory in the current circumstances. At lower operational costs, awareness and training education among the masses can be spread quickly. In addition, advertising can be helpful through social media in the domestic, regional and international markets by accessing large-scale customers. These platforms have revolutionized the business world by enhancing opportunities (Savitriet al., 2022). On the other hand, these platforms have increased the completion manifold among firms. However, lacking modern quality control methods concerning date palm dry units may have a destructive impact. In this scenario, technological advancements have no considerable applications to improve these dry units. In other words, the automation capacity on this side of the business has the potential to explore new horizons.
Legal Factor:
On the legal side, high standards of safety measures and labour regulations may become a hurdle as solar dryers in such particular units are weather dependent up to some extent. In other words, the legal matters in the context of specific rules and regulations are not formulated to boost such agro-industry in the country. In addition, the legal issues and their remedies breed enormous complexities due to the country’s diversified and costly judicial system. Neither legislation nor the justice system is plenty advantageous concerning date palm dry units. In precise words, the political disturbance has also affected the specific legislation since the Brexit issue, as the parliamentary focus revolved thoroughly around it.
Environmental Factors:
Environmental hazards are not involved in the solar drying units as they don’t emit carbon dioxide. So environmental repercussions on the part of solar dryer units may not result in considerable pollution (Acar et al., 2022). Environmental damage and deterioration are not pitfalls of these units. So there is no danger of any objection concerning the environmental protection department in the country.
Conclusion
Finally, it can be said that the factors affecting date palm dryer units are pro-progress except for politico-legal elements. In addition, the sociocultural fabric of the country is not adaptive to date fruit usage on a large scale. However, the overall scenario and market trends indicate the high capacity of progress in this sector to earn a high exchange rate for the village populace, farming community and the country. The need of the hour is to invest capital in this sector with full zeal and zest to explore new business horizons.
References
Acar, C., Dincer, I., & Mujumdar, A. (2022). A comprehensive review of recent advances in renewable-based drying technologies for a sustainable future. Drying Technology, 40(6), 1029-1050.
Albrecht, F. (2022). Natural hazards as political events: framing and politicisation of floods in the United Kingdom. Environmental Hazards, 21(1), 17-35.
Álvarez Jaramillo, J., Zartha Sossa, J. W., & Orozco Mendoza, G. L. (2019). Barriers to sustainability for small and medium enterprises in the framework of sustainable development—L iterature review. Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(4), 512-524.
Ridley, F. F. (2019). The public service in Britain: From administrative to managerial culture. In Comparing Public Sector Reform in Britain and Germany (pp. 132-149). Routledge.
Salomón-Torres, R., Valdez-Salas, B., & Norzagaray-Plasencia, S. (2021). Date Palm: Source of Foods, Sweets and Beverages. In The Date Palm Genome, Vol. 2 (pp. 3-26). Springer, Cham.
Savitri, C., Hurriyati, R., Wibowo, L., & Hendrayati, H. (2022). The role of social media marketing and brand image on smartphone purchase intention. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 6(1), 185-192.
Yusoff, M. N. A. M., Zulkifli, N. W. M., Sukiman, N. L., Chyuan, O. H., Hassan, M. H., Hasnul, M. H., … & Zakaria, M. Z. (2021). Sustainability of palm biodiesel in transportation: a review on biofuel standard, policy and international collaboration between Malaysia and Colombia. Bioenergy research, 14(1), 43-60.
