A girl tastes date at Cairo's first Festival of Dates and Natural Products held in Giza, Egypt, April 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
Five-day Cairo International Date Palm Festival provides opportunity to develop industry of dates and market products.
CAIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Cairo International Date Palm Festival, in its first edition, kicked off this week in a step to develop the industry of dates and market its products.
The five-day event held in the Orman Botanical Garden was launched by officials from the ministries of industry and agriculture and the Arab Economic Unit Council.
"Egypt seeks to achieve comprehensive renaissance in the palm and dates sector that is based on swift and sustainable progress of the system of producing, packing, manufacturing and exporting of dates," Alaa Azouz, chairman of the agricultural guidance sector in the ministry of agriculture, told Xinhua.
He highlighted the festival as "a very important gathering" where participants exchange the expertise about best solutions for improving the dates industry and promoting the exports.
"Egypt produces 1.5 million tons of dates annually, which is the world's largest producer of dates, with the highest palm productivity," Azouz said.
An exhibitor shows dates at Cairo's first Festival of Dates and Natural Products in Giza, Egypt, April 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
There are 14 million date palm trees in Egypt now, and the government plans to increase the number to 24 million, the official statistics said.
However, the agriculture official referred to "Egypt's reduced number of exports of dates compared with the number of palms."
He called for advancing the quality of dates in accordance with the international technical criteria and specifications for increasing the exports.
"The festival enhances the agriculture and industry of dates in one time and opens new horizons for progressing the added value of that products," Azouz added.
Some 50 companies specialized in the production and marketing the dates have taken part in the event.
"Holding the festival is an important leap that the dates producers need for marketing their products," said Mostafa Youssef, marketing manager of Shaly company based in Matrouh province, northwest of Cairo.
He expected the event will see hundreds of visitors because the timing is close to the coming holy month of Ramadan when people consume large quantities of dates.
"Putting many dates companies in one place is a gain for both consumers and merchants," said Youssef, adding his company produces dates stuffed with nuts, chocolate and date syrup.
Prices of the products are up to 50 Egyptian pounds (about 3.2 U.S. dollars) per kilogram, lower than the average price level in the market, he added.
Photo taken on April 2, 2021 shows dates exhibited at Cairo's first Festival of Dates and Natural Products held in Giza, Egypt. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
The festival isn't limited only to the Egyptians, where exhibitors from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Libya also took part.
"I'm glad to be part of the event that promotes the understanding of the health benefits of dates," said Ahmad Gabreel, owner of "Amoura Sons" farm in Libya.
His farm produces 50 types of dates and the prices range between 1 to 2.5 dollars per kg.
Meanwhile, Ashraf al-Far, secretary-general of the Arab Date Federation (ADF) asserted that the Arab countries are the world's top producers of dates.
"Egypt produces 20 percent of the overall international produce, while all the Arab countries including Egypt make up to 80 percent of the world production of dates," al-Far said.
Still, the Arab countries have to pay more attention to the quality of the final product especially the packing to export the dates in good conditions, the ADF's official said.
The industry of dates is one of the Arab countries' strategic projects, and is the best kind of investment in the food industries, he explained.
"The Egyptian market consumes one-quarter of the annual production," he said, advising the people to take it daily for its health benefits.
Though the festival is the first of its kind for dates, people were rushing to visit it ahead of Ramadan.
Reading about the festival on social media, Lylah Abdullah, a 21-year-old university student, bought 7 kg of chocolate-stuffed dates and wished for similar festivals at least twice per year. ■
