Abu Dhabi: The fresh variety of dates and vegetables displayed at the Liwa Date Festival are there for one main reason — clean and purified water. Without this resource, it would not be possible for farmers to showcase their dates and vegetables.
When it comes to farming, water is everything, and not just any type of water. For those not familiar with farming, water used for this purpose has to be of a specific kind — if it is salty rather than sweet, the farming results would not be positive. Water that is not pure or free of organic matter such as bacteria will also lead to poor outcomes. Modern technology has provided a helping hand to farmers, with machines that help purify water for farming, allowing them to grow produce.
“The water used for farming has to be right, if its contents are harmful, the quality of dates will be bad. All the well-grown dates we see at the festival and in the markets are because of purified water used in the farms,” said Gassan Mufid Al Khayali, marketing manager at Spring Sparkling Water Technology, who was at the Liwa Date Festival to promote the use of water-purifying technologies.
“These days, many farmers use clean-water machines for their irrigation needs. These purification machines filter and desalinate water,” he added.
Al Khayali explained that the purifying water machines varied in their capacity.
“For some machines, the capacity is up to 50,000 gallons, and the cost for such a machine is Dh85,000. Smaller machines with capacities up to 10,000 gallons cost Dh37,000,” he said.
Al Khayali said the Liwa Date Festival, because of its growing influence, was a good venue for showcasing water purification technologies to farmers.
“It is important to showcase such technologies, because without water purification machines, we will not see good-sized, fresh dates. Water purification machines are a vital component for modern-day farming.”
The Liwa Date Festival, a celebration of the famous and traditional fruit of the UAE, concludes on Saturday.
