Muscat: The sixth edition of the Omani Dates Festival, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Riyada (the Public Authority for SMEs) Development will begin on October 24. The festival includes events, activities and seminars.
Dr Fuad bin Jaafar al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, said the festival compliments the efforts made by the ministry to develop the agricultural sector. He added the festival aims at introducing the value of the Omani dates and raising public awareness on the importance of dates and date palm trees.
He pointed out that the festival, which will run through from October 24 to 31, includes a seminar on the Omani dates market. A number of Omani table and manufactured dates will be displayed. As more as 70 farmers, factory owners, public and private organisations will take part at the eight-day event.
Commenting on the estimates of the local dates production, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries said that as per the survey carried out by the ministry in 2017, the dates production is estimated at 361,000 tonnes compared to 355,000 tonnes in 2016 and 344,000 tonnes in 2015.
He also noted that the ministry has implemented a number of development programmes to promote production through guidance and research. The ministry also distributed 725,000 seedlings to farmers in different parts of the Sultanate in the past to replace the old date palm trees.
The ministry also implemented a project for the development of the packing and packaging units. It provided subsidy to 200 farmers across the the Sultanate. It also distributed 750 packaging machines as part of this project. The ministry also subsided more than 20 farmers who own dates processing units. The ministry also organised visits to other countries to learn the best practices.
“Throughout the past five years, the ministry subsidised the participation of more than 340 farmers, marketing executives, dates processing factory owners, SMEs and citizens who carry out domestic work related to dates,” he concluded. — ONA
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