UAE | Heritage and Culture
Cross-pollination offers wide variety of new dates
Expert says it is not possible to count the number of existing types.
- By Eman Mohammed, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor
- Published: 22:54 July 18, 2009
- Image Credit: WAM
- Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region, visits the Liwa Date Festival.
Liwa: New types of dates are growing due to cross-pollination and today there are more than 120 types of dates in the UAE, an expert said.
Some of the popular types of dates which exist now were grown more than 1,000 years ago.
He said it is impossible to count all the types of dates. "In the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq, for example, there are thousands of types, while in Iran and Libya there are more than 400 types," he said.
The dates in the UAE are registered with the Ministry of Environment and Water. The types here were either grown locally or brought from neighbouring countries or North Africa.
"Many of the date types are named after the place they were found or after the first farmer who grew them," said Emad Sa'ad from the Agriculture Department of the Abu Dhabi municipality.
"When popular types of dates are grown in other places you can make out the difference due to the nature of the soil, water, humidity and general weather conditions," he said.
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Sa'ad said, for example, if Liwa Khalas is grown in Ras Al Khaimah, the soil will produce a low quality date due to the high humidity, which affects the fruits badly.
On the other hand, many farmers in Al Ain and Al Gharbia are improving the quality of their dates through cross-pollination of various date types, he said.
"Farmers with real experience are taking the matter seriously and working on creating new types with a high quality, and they are using organic fertilisers which help produce healthy fruits," he said.
"The new standards for the date competition at Liwa Date Festival have prompted farmers to take the process more seriously", Sa'ad said.
Some of the best types of dates are from Al Gharbia (the Western region), because of the good growing conditions. While in other parts of the country, some dates are of lesser quality due to the high humidity which ferments the fruits.
Praise: Great success
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region, yesterday visited the Liwa Date Festival in the Western Region.
Shaikh Hamdan toured the stands of government and local bodies and agricultural companies participating in the date festival. He praised the great success and the noticeable development the festival has achieved for the fifth successive year.
He said that the success achieved by the festival provides evidence to the right path led by the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the great attention he paid to the palm tree as a symbol of life.
- WAM
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