The Business of Heritage: 12 Years Old Liwa Dates Festival Contributes to UAE Dates becoming the World's Most Wanted
Some 35 government and private companies have set up pavilions in the exhibition area of Liwa Dates Festival, promoting the current patterns and achievements in business of dates.
There is Al Dhafra, among UAE's biggest dates company, which just recently reported that the Emirates are now the world's greatest exporter of dates going beyond 100,000 loads each year.
There is the UAE University, which has a dedicated research study program for the cultivation of date palm trees.
There is Talah Board, a new company that wants to turn discarded palm tree leaves, which typically end up in land fills, into wood boards, something that has never ever been done prior to. The company is now at the festival to persuade farmers to give them their palm waste, for which they will even get a little money: AED 85 per ton when collected or AED 150 per load when delivered by farmers to Talah Board's factory in Kizad (Abu Dhabi area).
There is the Abu Dhabi Farmers Services Centre, which six years earlier was the very first to show farmers here how to prune, treat and care for date palms.
"When we first started cutting down contaminated littles the palms and pruning them, farmers got very mad with us, believing we are harming their trees. We even got death dangers! Now they all understand ways to better care for the palms and they are teaching their pals and neighbours," stated a representative of the Centre.
One of the farmers working with the Centre, Saleh Al Mansouri, brought to the celebration his - and UAE's - very first harvest of dates grown utilizing hydroponics, an agricultural method utilizing water mixed with nutrients instead of soil to grow plants.
"I have 32 types of fruit trees in my farm in Liwa, consisting of 30 palm trees. Hydroponics is an ideal system for our environment as it saves 90% of water from watering, and it does not impact the quality of the fruit," he said.
Not just orchards, however vegetables greenhouses and even a fish farm remain in Mansouri's "yard".
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 customs, when it comes to farming, modernity is heartily invited.
Now in its 12th year, the Liwa Dates Festival, arranged 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 effect on raising the bar on date palm farming.
It did so by substantially granting the very 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 pick the best dates entered in the competitors, they go to check the farm, which contributes to the last rating. They take a look at the basic element of the farm, at irrigation efficiency - not to waste water - and whether it utilizes pesticides and other chemicals, which we strongly advise against," described Abdullah Butti Al Qubaisi, director of Projects Management and Communication at the Committee.
"Over the years, we experienced fantastic enhancements in farming practices and, as a result, the quality of dates has improved too," he included.
"Furthermore, winning at Liwa Dates Festival is not almost the monetary reward. Winners become well known and their dates get extremely required on the marketplace," Al Qubaisi likewise said.
It is this circle of wealth - sustainable, healthy farming methods that produce high quality dates that yield greater monetary income - that is the supreme aim of Liwa Dates Festival: to assist the economy of Al Gharbia while maintaining and enliven its deeply rooted heritage.
Thus, the festival not just grants the best 15 positions in 10 ratab (half ripe dates) competitors with leading rewards varying from AED 50,000 for Biggest Etheg - branch of dates to AED 200,000 for Best Nukhba - basket of mixed ratab, but it likewise encourages heritage related arts and crafts, through competitors, but likewise through the traditional souk, where Emirati women get to sell their handicrafts and traditional items.
