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 (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.
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. 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, the sociocultural factors are favorable 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. In the current scenario, the lack of awareness and proper training, especially for a low literate populace, maybe a hindering factor in this regard.
Technological Factors:
As far as technological factors are concerned, technology usage is mandatory in the current circumstances. At lower operational cast, 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 (Savitriet al., 2022). However, lacking modern quality control methods concerning date palm dry units may have a destructive impact.
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 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 may not result in considerable pollution (Acar et al., 2022). 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. Overall, the 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.
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.
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.
