Dates festivals in the Emirates/The Palm is a tributary of heritage, economy and tourism

Abu Dhabi, July 19 / WAM / During the summer, the oases and agricultural areas in the UAE transform into vibrant spaces to celebrate the blessed palm tree and its good fruits, in a scene in which the authenticity of the heritage is integrated with the dynamism of the economy, in which agriculture intersects with tourism, and in which the wet season turns into an occasion that reflects the distinctive relationship between Emirati society and the palm tree.

The status of the palm tree in the Emirates is based on a deep national heritage, linked to the vision of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, “may God rest his soul,” who made agriculture, land reclamation, and palm cultivation a project for development and construction.

Date festivals continue this year, from Liwa to Al Ain to Dubai and Al Dhaid, to present a vivid picture of the ability of the Emirati heritage to renew, and to transform it from a memory of the past into a contemporary practice, and from a seasonal occasion to platforms that bring together farmers, producers, families, companies, experts and visitors, and give each group a space to participate in the celebration of the palm tree.

The 2026 season provides a clear picture of the breadth of the scope of these events and the development of their content. In the city of Liwa in the Al Dhafra region, the activities of the 22nd session of the Liwa Dates Festival were launched, including 23 competitions and 295 prizes with a total value exceeding 8 million dirhams, including date decorations, fruits and a model farm, in addition to “The Most Beautiful Date Dates” and “Creativity from the Palm Trunk.”

Competitions are not limited to farmers, as the local community attends through the heritage market, productive families, and craftswomen, while the visitor meets the wet market, palm cuttings, and agricultural tools, and children find an interactive space that brings them closer to their heritage, in addition to folk arts, awareness programs, and daily competitions.

In the same context, the Abu Dhabi Heritage Authority is organizing the first session of the “Al Ain Dates Festival” during the period from July 25 to 31 at Al Sarooj Park, including 19 competitions and 245 prizes with a total value exceeding 5 million dirhams, in addition to various markets and sections that highlight the UAE’s agricultural heritage, support farmers and productive families, and provide visitors with an integrated heritage and entertainment experience.

The festival brings together farmers, experts, companies and research centres, and includes various competitions for dates and fruits, in addition to the “Most Beautiful Date Dates” and “Creativity from the Palm Trunk” competitions, enhancing Al Ain’s status as an agricultural and tourist destination.

For its part, the “Dubai Dates” Festival, whose activities began yesterday, continues to consolidate its presence as an event that combines competition, heritage and community participation, with the introduction of the “Tamra Al Bait – Dubai” and “Tamra Al Bait – General” stages, which encourages families to plant and care for palm trees, and transfers the relationship of new generations with the palm tree to the home space.

In turn, this year, the Al Dhaid Dates Festival celebrates a decade since its founding, after it has become a platform that brings together palm growers, date producers, experts and agricultural companies from various emirates of the country.

The activities of the festival, which begins on July 23, will reflect a comprehensive diversity that includes organizing a variety of competitions for farmers, such as competitions for local lemons and red figs, a sheep date competition from homes directed to women only, and a sheep date decoration competition for children, in addition to other activities.

The participation of more than 15 specialized agricultural companies in last year’s edition of the Al Dhaid Festival reflects another aspect of the development of dates festivals in the Emirates, which have become a platform for displaying sustainable agriculture techniques and solutions that increase production efficiency and improve the use of resources.

Date festivals reveal a growing economic role for the palm sector, by providing outlets for marketing local production, supporting productive families, stimulating sales, and opening the way for agricultural companies.

In this context, the Dhaid Dates Festival in its ninth session achieved sales exceeding two million dirhams, and attracted more than 30,000 visitors, an increase of 25 percent, while the Liwa Dates Festival in its twenty-first session recorded about 144,685 visitors.

These numbers reflect the ability of festivals to create an economic movement that extends from farm production to sales, marketing, services, hospitality and tourism, while giving agricultural areas and oases a special tourist presence, through an experience that brings together heritage markets, crafts, arts, local products, workshops and competitions.

Palm cultivation is gaining a strategic dimension in the Emirates, as dates represent one of the basic food items within the National Strategy for Food Security 2051. Therefore, supporting palm cultivation and developing production techniques not only represents the preservation of an agricultural heritage, but also contributes to enhancing local production and sustainability.

The palm tree occupies an important space in the UAE agricultural landscape. In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi alone, an agricultural survey in 2023 included more than 6.75 million palm trees distributed among 22,581 farms, confirming the breadth and ramifications of the palm cultivation base.

The UAE is one of the countries in the world most interested in palm cultivation, as it entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2009 with more than 40 million palm trees, and ranked third in the world in exporting dates in 2021, with total exports amounting to 261.42 thousand tons, with a value of approximately one billion dirhams.

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