Liwa festival drives up the taste for UAE dates

ABU DHABI / WAM

Some 35 government and private companies have set up pavilions in the exhibition area of Liwa Dates Festival, promoting the latest trends and achievements in the business of dates.
Among the active participants in the festival are: Al Dhafra, one of UAE’s largest dates company, which recently reported that the Emirates are now the world’s biggest exporter of dates exceeding 100,000 tons per year; the UAE University, which has a dedicated research programme for the cultivation of date palm trees and Talah Board, a new company that wants to turn discarded palm tree fronds, which usually end up in landfills, into wooden boards, something that has never been done before. The company is now at the festival to convince farmers to give them their palm waste, for which they will even get a bit of cash: AED 85 per ton when collected or AED 150 per ton when delivered by farmers to Talah Board’s factory in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad).
There is also the Abu Dhabi Farmers Services Centre, which six years ago was the first to show farmers here how to prune, treat and care for date palms.
“When we first started cutting down infected bits of the palms and pruning them, farmers got very angry with us, thinking we are damaging their trees. We even got death threats! Now they all know how to better care for the palms and they are teaching their friends and neighbours,” said a representative of the Centre.
One of the farmers working with the Centre, Saleh Al Mansouri, brought to the festival his – and UAE’s – first harvest of dates grown using hydroponics, an agricultural method using water mixed with nutrients instead of soil to grow plants.
“I have 32 types of fruit trees in my farm in Liwa, including 30 palm trees. Hydroponics is an ideal system for our environment as it saves 90% of water from irrigation, and it doesn’t affect the quality of the fruit,” he said. Not just orchards, but vegetables greenhouses and even a fish farm are in Mansouri’s “backyard”.
Liwa, Madinat Zayed and Al Ain are the cradle of UAE’s date palm farming, and while they are also oasis of centuries old Emirati traditions, when it comes to agriculture, modernity is heartily welcomed.
Now in its 12th year, the Liwa Dates Festival, organised by the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee – Abu Dhabi -this July 20 – 30 in Mazeirah, the main town of Western Region’s Liwa Oasis, has had a major impact on raising the bar on date palm farming.
It did so by substantially awarding the best produced dates and the best kept farms. “One of the condition to win a best dates award is the state of the farm. When judges choose the best dates entered in the competition, they go to inspect the farm, which adds to the final score. They look at the general aspect of the farm, at irrigation efficiency – not to waste water – and whether it uses pesticides and other chemicals, which we strongly advise against,” explained Abdullah Butti Al Qubaisi, Director of Projects Management and Communication at the Committee.
“Over the years, we witnessed great improvements in farming practices and, as a result, the quality of dates has improved too,” he added. “Furthermore, winning at Liwa Dates Festival is not just about the financial prize. Winners become well known and their dates get highly demanded on the market,” Al Qubaisi also said.
It is this circle of wealth – sustainable, healthy agricultural methods that produce high quality dates that yield greater financial income – that is the ultimate aim of Liwa Dates Festival: to help the economy of Al Gharbia while preserving and enliven its deeply rooted heritage.
Thus, the festival not only awards the best 15 positions in 10 ratab (half ripe dates) competitions with top prizes varying from AED 50,000 for Biggest Etheg – branch of dates to AED 200,000 for Best Nukhba – basket of mixed ratab, but it also encourages heritage related arts and crafts, through competitions, but also through the traditional souk, where Emirati women get to sell their handicrafts and traditional products.