The 11 days Liwa Dates Festival came to an end on Saturday night, when the victors of the last competition, Best Nukhba, were introduced. Organised by the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee - Abu Dhabi, the festival this year awarded 233 rewards worth AED 5.2 million.

Most of these awards went to Ratab Mazeynah (best fresh dates) for some of one of the most prominent varieties of dates that expand in the UAE - Khallas, Bou Maan, Khunaizi, Dabbas and Shishi. Al Dhafra Nukhba and Liwa Nukhba were the last two ratab (half ripened days) competitions in this 13th Liwa Dates Festival.

The nukhba is a combined days option. The two nukhba competitors had to include 15 and 20 various selections of ratab specifically. Each variety needed to evaluate minimal three kilos. Like with all various other Ratab Mazeynah, the Nukhba baskets were evaluated on 15 criteria, from size, shape, colour and preference to the ratab state (totally ripe or immature days were not acceptable) and natural properties (days needed to be devoid of pesticide residues and chemical fertilisers, with all winning access signed in a research laboratory).

All in all, the judges scrutinised some 6,000 baskets of days sent to the Ratab Mazeynah competitions. For the first time in the festival's background, the awards expanded from top 10 to top 15 for a lot of groups.

"The winners of Al Dhafra Nukhba were granted AED 200,000, yet the competition with the largest money award was the Version Ranch - AED 300,000 for each of the two categories," claimed Obaid Khalfan Al Mazrouei, Director of Liwa Dates Festival and Director of Planning and Projects Division at the Board.

There were two Model Ranch competitions, one for eastern Liwa and one for the western Liwa. Throughout the 100 kilometres long oasis, there more than 10,000 farms, and from those that went into the competitors, 10 were awarded with prize money, the very best five from each category.

The Model Farm Award was developed to urge farmers to boost the top quality of their dates, keep their palm trees healthy and balanced, keep exceptional health at the farm, bring back old buildings at the building and to protect the high quality of the soil and used products.

"The festival this year drew in good participation from exhibitors, competitors, inventions makers, business owners and site visitors. We had very high quality of days in all the ratab competitions, which mirrors the improvements offered farming by the festival in the previous 13 years. Our objective has always been to encourage local farmers to boost the quality of their produce through adopting modern and better agricultural approaches," said Mr. Mazrouei.

"And also, the involvement of numerous days manufacturing facilities showed the several products that could be constructed of dates, from day juice, sweets and pickles, to this day molasses".

"The Children's Village had dozens of activities daily, all very popular with youngsters of any ages. This year we also 'em ployed' around 60 pupils as heritage ambassadors for the Liwa region, assisting them to obtain and share knowledge pertaining to the heritage facet of the festival," he added.

For the thousands of daily site visitors to the Liwa Dates Festival, the typical souk was among the major tourist attractions. The market shops, decorated with meticulously-woven palm leaves, were run by Emirati ladies business owners, marketing mainly handicrafts, things showing Emirati traditions or even house cooked food.

There was Al Sadu (typical woollen weaving) rugs, blankets and decors, Al Khoos (palm leaf weaving) mats, followers and baskets, small furniture items, toys as well as artworks crafted from palm tree timber and there was Talli (needlework) also in silver and gold colours, a typical decoration for Emirati females's garments.

Abu Dhabi's Fatma Al Muhairi went to the festival to display her mother's home blended perfumes. Over 30 different fragrances in different size bottles, offering from AED 50 to AED 500 were on her table.

"My mother typically mixes around five different oils to produce a particular fragrance. She mostly utilizes Arabic oils. Now, in the summer season time, the floral aromas, which are lighter, are prominent, but in the cool months, oud, which has a solid fragrance, is liked," she said.

Inning accordance with Fatma, it matters not the amount of years one spends finding out the art of mixing fragrances, if you don't have a nose for it, you simply can't get it right.

"If you have an talent for scents, though, this is still an excellent business. My sis is additionally great at mixing fragrances. We sell primarily from our residence and throughout festivals such as this set," ended Fatma.

Like the majority of ladies from the souk, Fatma is now starting to prepare for the next typical market, which will happen in December, during Al Dhafra Camel Festival in neighboring Madinat Zayed, also arranged by the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Board - Abu Dhabi.