UAE: Al Dhaid Date Festival kicks off on Thursday

Dubai - Event will witness participation of dozens of palm growers from Sharjah and other emirates.

The 5th edition of Al Dhaid Date Festival will kick off on Thursday at Expo Al Dhaid with increased cash prizes for the best dates.

Organised by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI), the four-day event will witness the participation of dozens of palm growers from Sharjah and other emirates in the country.

This year’s festival is packed with a variety of activities and contests between palm owners and farmers who will display various types of dates from the 2021 crop.

The festival prize money ranges from Dh2,000 to Dh30,000. This rise in the value of the prizes is aimed at supporting palm owners and farmers, help develop dates-based local industries, and raise the quality of Emirati products. This year’s edition will have two new categories — local mango and yellow and red figs.

The conditions for entering the competitions include: the dates must be locally produced; the participants must provide dates from his farm or garden. All contestants are required to show required documents upon registration, swear an oath, and visit farms.

The committee also set the specifications and the competition criteria, including that dates should be ripe and void of insect infestation, dead insects, their eggs, their larvae or their residues, and from any visible defects, or abnormal smell or taste, or be contaminated with metallic or sandy traces such as scars; date size should be suitable and the entries should not contain unripe dates; the weight of dates shouldn’t be less than 3kg in the individual items and to be delivered in Mekhrafa (Container made of palm shoots, used for preserving date fruits and displaying them). The festival is open for visitors daily from 8am to 10pm.

reporters@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah