"Al Dhaid Dates Festival" It attracts more than 35 thousand visitors
Sharjah, 27 July / WAM / The activities of the tenth session of the “Al Dhaid Dates Festival”, organized by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Expo Center Al Dhaid, concluded over four days in an exceptional edition that celebrated the full decade since the launch of one of the most prominent agricultural and heritage festivals in the UAE, attracting more than 35 thousand visitors, a remarkable increase of 15% compared to the last session, recording sales exceeding 2.5 million dirhams, and crowning 130 winners in its various competitions.
During the closing ceremony, His Excellency Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, honored the winners of the festival’s competition awards, the supporting bodies and the strategic partners, praising the efforts of the organizing committees and all participating parties that contributed to the success of the event, which witnessed wide participation from major palm growers and date producers from various emirates of the country, along with productive families and a number of government agencies, specialized companies in the agricultural sector, and high-quality palm seedling nurseries that presented the latest solutions and technologies directed at farmers.
The tenth session of the festival witnessed a noticeable expansion in the space allocated for participating events and pavilions, in addition to an increase in the number of participants, which reflects the continuous growth achieved by the event year after year. The festival also received a remarkable presence from a number of Their Excellencies ministers, senior officials, heads of municipal councils, and representatives of government and federal agencies who were briefed on the initiatives and projects that the festival offers in support of the agricultural sector. The event also attracted wide attention from various media outlets, as well as content makers and influencers who came throughout the four days of the festival to cover it. Its activities contributed to enhancing its media presence and highlighting its position as one of the most prominent national platforms supporting the agricultural sector and Emirati heritage.
The festival included a presentation of the “National Food Factory” project, which is being implemented by the Sharjah Chamber in the Hamda area in the city of Mleiha, with an annual production capacity of 5,000 metric tons. The project platform received a remarkable turnout from visitors, farmers, and those interested in the agricultural sector, who learned about the services it will provide to farmers, agricultural companies, and food manufacturers, from processing dates, sorting, grading, and packaging them, producing date paste and date molasses, to processing and drying vegetables, and manufacturing and packaging services. For others, dry and refrigerated storage and preparing products for export.
His Excellency Abdullah Sultan Al Owais stressed that the Al Dhaid Dates Festival represents a strategic agricultural and economic event that comes within the efforts of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry towards developing an integrated system to support the agricultural sector in a way that embodies the insightful vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, in building a diversified and sustainable economy.
He pointed out that the festival has proven its role as an effective platform in enhancing competitiveness among farmers and motivating them to improve the quality of their production and contributed to transforming palm cultivation from a traditional activity into a sector based on quality and innovation standards. He added that the Chamber looks to the next stage with greater ambition as it works to support agricultural industrialization and link farms to industry, marketing and value chains in a way that enhances the position of the Emirate of Sharjah in the sustainable agricultural production system.
His Excellency Mohammed Ahmed Amin Al Awadhi, Director General of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that the passage of a full decade since the launch of the festival bears indications of the success of the knowledge model adopted by the Chamber, as the event has become a platform for documenting the agricultural heritage and transmitting it to the emerging generations, because preserving the palm tree as a symbol of national identity requires continuous investment in knowledge and innovation.
Mohammed Musabah Al Tunaiji, general coordinator of the festival, said that the event has strengthened its position this year through more specialized agricultural companies and productive families, embodying the integration between institutional efforts and community initiatives in supporting the local economy and highlighting the importance of sustainability in palm tree cultivation and the emirate’s community’s contribution to preserving the Emirati identity through reviving the various heritage events that were held alongside agricultural competitions to form an integrated system that succeeded in introducing visitors to the origins of the Emirati agricultural heritage and what the palm tree represents in local culture.
The tenth session was an exceptional station in the festival’s journey, as it witnessed an agenda full of competitive competitions distributed over four days. The first competitions began with the two competitions of the Al-Khunaizi Dates Dressing and the Local Lemon Dressing competitions, followed by the two competitions of the Khalas Dates Dressing and the Red Figs Dressing, then the Shishi Dates Dressing Competition, in addition to the modern and old Kharayef Dates competition from homes designated for women. The agenda concluded with the two “Al-Dhaid Elite General” competitions open to all participants. The “Al Dhaid Special Elite” is dedicated to the farmers of the Northern Emirates, in addition to the sheep date dressing competition for children.
The festival continued to play its role as a platform for transferring agricultural knowledge through a series of daily guidance workshops and awareness seminars presented by experts and specialists, covering types of palm trees, methods of caring for them, modern harvesting methods, and sustainable agricultural practices, in addition to reviewing the latest technologies that contribute to raising productivity and improving the quality of crops, which gave farmers the opportunity to see what supports the development of their farms, introducing new varieties, and expanding marketing opportunities for their production. It also allowed visitors to learn about the development of the palm cultivation sector and its related industries.
The awareness activities included in the festival aimed to raise community awareness of the importance of clean agriculture and encourage farmers to improve the quality of date production away from relying on chemical fertilizers, in addition to the organizing committee’s keenness to develop competitions, organizing mechanisms, and awareness programs in a way that expands the participation of various segments of society and encourages new generations to relate to the Emirati agricultural heritage.
The festival provided the participating productive families with a lively platform to display their products that combined authentic heritage and innovation. The exhibits attracted the attention of visitors, as they varied between handicrafts made from palm fronds, authentic popular dishes, and innovative products such as natural local honey and spices prepared according to inherited family mixtures and authentic Arabic coffee, transforming palm products into crafts that combine economic and aesthetic value.
The festival provided its visitors with an integrated experience that combined shopping, heritage, knowledge and entertainment, as it allowed them to learn about the finest types of dates and local fruits, learn about modern agricultural innovations, and enjoy heritage and cultural events that highlighted the position of the palm tree in the Emirati identity.
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