(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Amna Pervaiz Rao | The Peninsula
DOHA: A large number of people thronged the first Local Dates Exhibition 2018 at Souq Waqif to buy fresh dates at affordable prices on the last day of the nine-day long exhibition.
The exhibition is being organised by the Agricultural Sector of the Ministry of Municipality and the Environment as part of the interest of the State in supporting and encouraging local production.
The number of active farms in the country is 916, most of them are palm growing and produce different types of dates.
Talking to The Peninsula, Ahmed Al Yafi, Supervisor of Exhibition, said: 'The Exhibition was a big-hit; during the weekends we welcomed hundreds of buyers. Over 38 tonnes of dates were brought from local farms to the exhibition from which 70 percent stock was sold. More than eight varieties of dates were sold at the exhibition including Khalas, Shishi, Khanizi, Barhi, Naibt Saif, Lulu, Raziz and Ghar.
'The exhibition featured 40 local farms and six companies. These dates are being produced locally which were earlier being brought from the neighbouring countries. We are delighted to see a huge turnout at the exhibition, Al Yafi added.
Several people flocked the exhibition to grab few last boxes of dates at cheaper prices, many of them were stocking up for upcoming winter season.
'This exhibition has been very beneficial. My second visit to dates exhibition is to grab boxes of Khalas and Shishi dates for my family friends as these two were among the best kinds. The quality and quantity are also very good as compared to the dates we buy from supermarkets. We stock up dates from such exhibitions because dates are healthy fruit eaten by all of our family members every day, said Mohammed Nassem, a visitor at the exhibition.
According to the statistics, the total cultivated area of date palms in Qatar is estimated at 2,350 hectares, while the total production of dates reached about 30,000 tonnes last year, while the total number of palm trees within the existing farms is more than 500,000.
A salesmen claimed a very good response from customers during these nine days. Most of the salesmen from stalls said that only 10 percent of dates were left on every stall due to good sales.
Anothersalesman at Shiekh Faisal Bin Jassim farm stallsaid: 'We have sold almost 200kg of dates during these nine days. The bestseller among our dates was ‘Khalas', people like this variety of date the most. Shishi was another hit during the exhibition. We had to reduce the prices of dates on the last day of the exhibition due to large number of buyers.
According to recent data shared by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment over 30,000 tonnes of dates were produced in Qatar last year.
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