Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
Over 80 tonnes of fresh dates have been sold so far in the ongoing 4th Fresh Local Dates Festival 2019 and over 24,000 people have visited the festival, said the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME).
Exhibitors praised the good turnout this year compared to the previous years. The sales on festival’s seventh day (July 29) crossed over 13 tonnes, bringing the total sales to 80 tonnes since the festival opened on July 23.
The number of visitors to the festival on the sixth day (July 28) was 4,500, said the Ministry on its official website.
“The festival succeeded in marketing local fresh dates and each year we notice a great development and an increase in the number of sales and the number of participating farms. In the first festival, the number of participating farms was 23 but in this edition the number has reached 86,” Adil Al Yafai, Deputy Director of Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, said.
He also said in a televised remarks that the festival comes in light of Qatar’s interest in the local product and farmers and the goal is to achieve self-sufficiency. The festival is organised by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment at Souq Waqif. The 12-day festival opens from 4pm to 10pm until August 3. The initiative is part of a major programme of the Ministry to provide platforms to local farms to market their produce.
Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, in a previous statement praised the citizens, residents and tourists for visiting the festival, especially on weekends where the number of visitors exceeded 15,000.
The festival is considered an important opportunity for the local farms to market their production of fresh dates without any costs, especially after the success of the previous versions, he added.
More than 85 local farms in a large air-conditioned tent at Souq Waqif have participated in the festival. In the previous festival, over 205 tonnes of fresh dates worth QR1.7m were sold out during the festival and attracted about 54,000 visitors.
