Taif, “the city of roses” west of the Kingdom, is under the Spotlight in an AFP piece, following local farmer Khalaf Allah Al Talhi as roses begin to bloom with the arrival of the spring season. Taif roses are famous for coloring the city hills and serving as the base for rose water used in cleaning the Kaaba walls and the production of perfumes popular with pilgrims.

Hard work: Al Talhi and his staff start to work before sunrise each day and continue working late into the night during harvest season — springtime. Once roses bloom, they are picked by hand before being soaked in a bath of boiling water. To extract the scent, the flowers go through a distillation process that produces rose water and oil.

Al Talhi estimated his production at 5 to 6 mn roses per year, contributing to a total annual production of c. 300 mn annually by some 800 farms. The Kingdom exported USD 141 mn worth of perfume products and rosewater in 2023.

BUT- Climate change looms: “Last year and the year before, it was extremely cold. Some farmers didn’t harvest a single flower from their fields,” Al Talhi added.

Climate change accelerates soil degradation, through processes such as salinization, erosion, and desertification, which diminishes the quality and productivity of arable land in Saudi Arabia,” said the Washington-based think-tank Atlantic Council, raising concerns about the future of agricultural activity in the Kingdom.

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