(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA
DOHA: The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has launched a fresh initiative to buy ‘IKhlas' dates from the harvest of local farms in a bid to encourage the production by providing them good return on their investment and hard-work.
The Permanent Committee for Farmers' Affairs at the Ministry has announced to buy Ikhlas dates, from the harvest of the local farmers registered for the season 2018, the Ministry has tweeted.
The interested farms have been asked to visit the Secretariat of the Committee at its headquarters located at the Agricultural Affairs Department, Building of Agricultural Sector, Old Salata. The deadline to submit the offer is September 27, 2018.
The Ministry also provided telephone numbers 44263969, 44263868 and 44263438 for further inquiry about the initiative.
'The initiative is a part of major project of the Ministry to increase the self-sufficiency of the country in date production from the existing 60 percent to 100 percent within five years, Hasan Ibrahim Al Asmakh, Head of Plant Research Department at the Ministry had told The Peninsula at a recent Ministry's event.
He said that sale of dates jumped over 40 percent in the third edition of Local Dates Festival 2018 compared to the previous years due to increased quality of local dates thanks to the advanced agricultural technique.
He said that the Department is preparing to distribute 2,000 most advanced seedlings of palm tree to local farmers in October.
'The seedlings were developed from local trees to suite the environment of Qatar as they have more resistance power to the diseases and produce high quality dates, said Al Asmkah.
He said that under the research projects of the Department, the seedlings were developed using latest plant tissue culture, a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition.
Talking about the distribution timing of seedling, Al Asmakh said: 'Temperature became favorable to grow plants in October as it is very difficult in other month of summer season.
He said that up to 7,000 seedlings of palm trees with proper guidelines are being distributed in a year. Talking about the distribution system, he said that a citizen 18 year and above will receive five seedlings.
He said that the distribution also aims at spreading the new technique to increase the production in a bid to achieve the self-sufficiency fast.
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment in collaboration with other authorities concerned like Ministry of Economy and Commerce and Qatar Development Bank is working on multiple plans to increase the date production.
The plans aim at providing best quality seedlings of palm trees by conducting local research projects, protecting the harvest from diseases, latest techniques to increase the production and marketing platforms for their products so they could get reasonable prices for their products.
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