Within the first six days of its opening, the 6th local dates festival at Souq Waqif has sold more than 50 tonnes, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported.
Ahmed al-Yafei, head of the guidance and agriculture services at the Agriculture Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, explained that the first day of the festival saw sales of 8,700kg of various types of dates, followed by 9,500kg on the second day.
"The Khalas variety recorded the highest in sales over the past few days, followed by Shishi, Khenazi and Barahi," the official explained.
After a break on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the dates festival resumed, staying open from 4pm to 10pm daily. The event will continue until July 30.
"This year has seen the participation of 80 local dates farms, which is the largest, compared to all the previous editions," al-Yafei said.
He expected that the local production of dates this year would amount to 27,000 tonnes, with an annual growth rate of 4%. In 2019, the local production was 25,000 tonnes, amounting to 76% of the total local demand. Some varieties of local dates are exported and used to make a number of products.
 
 
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