By Sidi Mohamed
DOHA: The Ministry of Municipality and Environment will launch a two-week festival of fresh dates at Souq Waqif on Thursday.
Twenty-two local date palm farms will offer a variety of fresh dates at the festival that aims to introduce local vitamin-rich dates to citizens and residents.
“The festival will begin on July 28 and end on August 14,” Yusuf Al Khulaifi, Director, Agricultural Affairs Department at the ministry, told The Peninsula yesterday. “The event will be organised by Agriculture and Research Department at the ministry in collaboration with Souq Waqif management. It will highlight nutritional values of fresh dates and the need to include the fruit in the daily diet of the people.”
Local farms are preparing to participate in the festival with their stocks. Locally produced fresh dates have flooded the market, including shopping complexes and grocery stores. Most stocks are being taken to Central Market in Doha and auctioned for wholesale. Suppliers take their shares to distribute to retail shops and other food outlets.
“About 22 farms are participating in the festival and the aim is to inform the people about the types of dates produced in Qatar and their benefits,” said Al Khulaifi.
“We harvest some 100 boxes a day and send them to Central Market for sale,” said a farmer. “We have six types of fresh dates — all harvested and sent for sale except Khalas. This variety is not harvested until it is dry because it yields high price compared to others,” said the farmer, adding it takes Khalas dates one more month to be fully ripe.
According to a local daily, over 26,000 tonnes of dates are produced in Qatar and a date palm can yield an average of 38kg a year. Local date production meets between 87.5 percent and 90 percent of demand, which means some 10 percent is met through imports from Saudi Arabia and Oman.
The ministry bought QR10m worth of Khalas from local farmers as a form of support, according to the daily. It plans to make the country self-sufficient by boosting production. More than 20 types of dates are produced in Qatar — Khanizi, Khazrawi, Khalas, Barhi, Khasab, Dajlanoor, Shahla, Lulu, Zarir, Hilali, Jabri, Ghar, Sultana, Sukkari, Tunasi, Iraqi, Bint Yusuf, Um Raihan, Murjiyan and Shishi.
QR15m research to improve quality of local dates
Qatar Foundation has launched a QR15m date palm research to improve the genetic traits of local varieties.
Also, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and Biotechnology Centre at the Ministry of Environment are working to develop Qatar as an emerging leader in date palm horticulture and biotechnology applications.
The Peninsula
