Al Foah expects to collect 103,000 tonnes of dates

Al Ain / WAM

Al Foah Company, an Abu Dhabi-based firm, seeking to make the UAE’s dates sector financially viable and internationally competitive, has announced that it expects to receive more than 103,000 tonnes of dates during the current season from more than 17,000 farmers from all over the country who will market their dates at eight centres specialised for the purpose. The dates marketing season for 2016 started on August 6 and will run through October 27.
On this occasion, Dhafer Ayed Al Ahbabi, Chairman of Al Foah Company, stated, “Al Foah has made all the preparations necessary for receiving dates from farmers from all around the Emirates.” He said his expectation was that the quantity of dates during the current season will exceed 103,000 tonnes, the total quantity received from the farmers last season.
He noted that the largest quantity of dates received has been of the Khalas type, followed by Dabbas and then Fard. He stressed the fact that the farmers were highly interested in applying basic good agriculture practices to take care of date palm trees by following the Agricultural Calendar, the Marketing Guide and other awareness enhancing publications, which include all the appropriate practices for caring for date-palms and the necessary agricultural methods and means for boosting the quality ratio of the dates crop.
Concerning the preparation of the dates receiving centres, Musallam Obaid Khales Al Ameri, Chief Executive Officer of Al Foah Company, asserted that Al Foah was keen to provide the centres with all the modern equipment necessary for serving the interests of the farmers, in order to facilitate and accelerate the process to receive dates, indicating that approximately 85 docking stations have been set up at the receiving centers.