The Seventh Local Dates Festival 2022, organised by the Ministry of Municipality and Souq Waqif Administration, kicked off on Wednesday with the participation of more than 80 local farms.The launch of the festival was attended by Yousef Khaled Al-Khulaifi, director of Agricultural Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality, Abdulrahman Muhammad Al-Nama, assistant director of Administrative and Financial Affairs at the Private Engineering Office, and a number of ministry officials and Souq Waqif management.The festival will run until August 10, from 3pm to 9pm daily. Speaking on the occasion, Youssef Khaled Al Khulaifi, director of the Department of Agricultural Affairs, stated that the festival aims to promote the production of dates and introduce its different types, in addition to encouraging local farm owners to find an outlet to display and market their production directly to the public, which will reflect positively on the volume of their sales and enhance their ability to increasing production and developing its marketing method.He added that this seventh edition witnesses, for the first time, the participation of some farms displaying some types of locally produced fruits, as an experiment to show the extent of the farm owners’ readiness to local needs. He added that the annual production has exceeded 82 percent of the self-sufficiency ratio, which is considered a distinct and excellent percentage, as the ministry aspires to improve the local product through the support it provides to farm owners in terms of land preparation, fertilisation, pollination and others. Khulaifi also stressed that a date festival will be organised soon as a complementary event to the dates festival.For his part, Abdul Rahman Muhammad Al Nama, assistant director of Administrative and Financial Affairs at the Private Engineering Office, said that the venue for the festival has been prepared with all the necessary equipment by the Souq Waqif management. He added that Souq Waqif is keen to participate in the festival in order to support local farms, explaining that the market is distinguished as a historical tourist attraction for citizens, residents and tourists alike, in addition to its privileged location in the centre of Doha, which makes it easily accessible for all.The organizing committee’s requirements to participate in the festival include the condition that the dates be good, clean and free from insects and impurities. A team of specialists in the Department of Agricultural Affairs will also take samples of dates from the participating farms for examination and analysis in order to ensure that they are free of toxic substances and the residual effect of pesticides. The festival’s organising committee is keen to follow the special instructions and directives to limit the spread of the COVID-19, and calls on the visitors to adhere to the precautionary measures in this regard.
