4 days ago
10th Local Dates Festival kicks off at Souq Waqif
QNA
Doha
The 10th edition of the Local Dates Festival kicked off on Thursday at Souq Waqif East Square, under the patronage of the Ministry of Municipality and Souq Waqif Management.
More than 100 local farms are participating, with a large official and popular presence.
The festival will continue until August 7, welcoming visitors daily from 4pm to 9pm, and from 4pm to 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, in a traditional atmosphere that reflects the importance of dates in Qatari food culture and local heritage.
The opening ceremony was attended by Eng. Fahad Mohammed Al Qahtani, assistant undersecretary for Agriculture and Food Security Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality, and Abdulrahman Mohammed Al Numa, representative of the Private Engineering Office, along with a number of ministry and market management officials, including Yousef Khaled Al Khulaifi, director of the Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality, and Mohammed Abdullah Al Salem, director of Souq Waqif and general supervisor of the festival.
In a statement on the occasion, Al Khulaifi stressed that the festival has witnessed significant development since its first launch in 2016, in which only 19 farms participated, bringing the number of participants in its current edition to 116 farms, reflecting the growing interest in local crops.
He noted the increasing turnout of visitors and the fruitful cooperation with the Souq Waqif management, which has contributed to the success of this event over the past years.
For his part, Al Salem explained that Souq Waqif is keen to organise this festival annually in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality, in support of the local agricultural sector.
He pointed out that the site designated for the festival has been fully equipped by the ministry to provide a suitable environment for farmers and visitors.
He said the market's central location in the heart of Doha contributes to attracting large numbers of visitors, making it an ideal platform for marketing local dates.
The director of Souq Waqif and the festival's general supervisor noted that the previous edition of the festival recorded sales of more than 240 tonnes of dates, anticipating even better results this year, thanks to the high quality of local produce and the wide participation of Qatari farms, which offer a diverse selection of dates and date extracts.
The festival is one of the country's most prominent agricultural events and comes within the framework of national efforts to support local production and enhance food security by encouraging farmers to improve the quality of their production and develop date varieties in line with Qatar's National Vision for Sustainable Development.
