DOHA: The 7th Local Dates Festival in Qatar for the 2022 season, which is organized by the Ministry of Municipality represented by the Department of Agricultural Affairs, will open to the public from July 27 until August 10, 2022, at Souq Waqif's Al Ahmad Square.
In cooperation with Souq Waqif Services Centre and the participation of a wide range of local farms, the event comes within the framework of Qatar's great interest in supporting and encouraging the domestic production of the entire national products, including dates in conjunction with the season of dates production in Qatar within the strenuous efforts dedicated to achieving food security, commitment to developing agriculture sector and palm trees, supporting farms owners and those interested in dates cultivation, in addition to promoting the dates cultivars across the country.
Director of the Agricultural Affairs Department Yousuf Khalid Al Khulaifi affirmed that the festival intends to promote the production of dates, including the entire dates cultivars, and encourage the owners of local farms to further offer and market their products from dates directly to the beneficiaries which would reflect positively on their sales volume and strengthen their abilities to increase production and upgrade the marketing methods.
Al Khulaifi pointed out that the festival is considered an opportunity to exchange experiences between the palm farmers to increase the area of the cultivated lands and contribute to developing this sector and subsequently produce the best cultivars.
Director of Souq Waqif, Mohammed Al Salem confirmed that the suitable venue for the festival, Souq Waqif's Al Ahmad Square, has been selected and is entirely equipped with the necessary structures, including the camp for the said event.
The festival will open its doors to the audience from 3 pm until 9 pm, except Friday when doors will open from 1 pm until 10 pm.
More than 80 farms are participating in this festival where participants will roll out their products from various cultivars of local dates.
The festival's organizing committee has determined several requirements and prerequisites for the entities that are willing to participate, including that the entities must make sure that the dates are good, clean and free of insects.
A team of professionals from the Department of Agricultural Affairs will embark on collecting samples of the dates for further examination and analysis to ensure that they are free of hazardous materials, including pesticide residues.
The committee also affirmed its commitment to pursuing precautionary measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus, calling on the audience to adhere to the precautionary measures.
