Doha: The 7th Local Dates Festival will open tomorrow at Souq Waqif and will continue until August 10, 2022.
It is organised by the Ministry of Municipality's Department of Agricultural Affairs in cooperation with Souq Waqif Services Centre. A wide range of local farms will showcase their produce at the festival.
The organisation of this event comes within the framework the State of Qatar’s great interest in supporting and encouraging the domestic production of all national products, including dates in conjunction with the season of dates production in Qatar.
The initiatives is part of the government's efforts to achieve food security, develop agriculture sector and palm trees, support 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, said 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 produce directly to the public.
He said the festival would reflect positively on local farms' sales volume and strengthen their abilities to increase production and upgrade the marketing methods.
He said the festival is an opportunity for palm farmers to exchange experiences to increase the cultivated area and contribute to developing this sector and subsequently produce the best cultivars.
Director of Souq Waqif, Mohammed Al Salem, said that a suitable venue has been selected for the festival. The venue is fully equipped with the necessary structures, including the camp in which the festival will be held at Souq Waqif’s Al Ahmad Square.
The festival will be open to public from 3pm to 9pm daily. On Fridays, it will open from 1pm to 10pm.
More than 80 farms are participating in this festival, bringing different varieties of local dates.
The festival’s organising committee has determined several requirements and prerequisites for the entities that are willing to participate, including that the entities should make sure that the dates are good, clean and free of insects.
A team of professionals from the Department of Agricultural Affairs will collect samples of 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 the precautionary measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus, calling on the audience to adhere to the precautionary measures.