It offers prizes worth 8.3 million dirhams distributed over 23 competitions

Liwa Date Festival.. 9 days celebrating the bounties of palm trees

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With prizes worth 8.3 million dirhams distributed over 23 major competitions, the 18th edition of the Liwa Date Festival will start on July 16 in Liwa, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court.

The Vice Chairman of the Cultural and Heritage Festivals and Programs Committee in Abu Dhabi, Issa Saif Al Mazrouei, revealed that the number of participants in the festival, which is one of the most important heritage festivals organized by the committee in the Al Dhafra region until the last session, amounted to more than 21,000, representing all regions of the country, making it the peak of the seasons. In which farm owners in the country compete to display and present the best of their farms of dates and fruits.

Al Mazrouei explained, during a virtual press conference yesterday, that "the festival, since its first launch until the current session, provided prizes worth about 116 million dirhams, and was able to attract more than one million visitors, which contributed to reviving economic life in various activities and sectors in the region." He pointed out that "the festival represents an occasion for different generations to learn about the heritage of grandparents and fathers, and an important platform for research, agricultural, industrial and marketing institutions on modern farming methods and how to care for the palm tree to bring them economic returns, and encourage farmers to pay attention to the quality of date production, and to achieve the efforts of the UAE to develop a system Comprehensive national foundations based on enabling sustainable food production.

green traffic

For his part, Festival Director Obaid Khalfan Al Mazrouei reviewed the most prominent competitions and events in the new session, which will continue until the 24th of this month, explaining that this year the festival includes 23 main competitions dedicated to dates and fruits competitions, the model farm, the most beautiful wet fairy and the most beautiful heritage sculpture, and 293 prizes were allocated to them. With a value of about 8.3 million dirhams.

It also witnesses many events and competitions in the popular market, in addition to traditional handicrafts, theater and its daily competitions and prizes, and other events that suit different age groups, pointing out that the festival will open its doors to visitors daily from four in the evening until ten in the evening during the period from 16 Until the 24th of this month, while taking care to continue applying precautionary and preventive measures, from distancing, wearing masks, and highlighting the state of green traffic on the Al-Hosn application, whether during the organization of various competitions, various events or the popular market.

Obaid Al Mazrouei pointed out that this year's Liwa Date Festival includes more than 200 diverse pavilions, including 50 pavilions for sponsors, supporters and participants, and 132 shops in the festival's popular market.

The Cultural and Heritage Programs and Festivals Management Committee in Abu Dhabi, through its pavilion, reviews its projects using modern technologies, in addition to publications in Nabati poetry, classical poetry, and poetry academic programs.

On how to register for competitions and events, he said that the festival committee launched a smart application that allows farmers and craftspeople to participate in viewing the conditions of competitions with the possibility of direct follow-up to the results and updates of the festival.

Conditions

Regarding the conditions for participation in the competitions, the director of the wet market at the festival, Mubarak Ali Al-Qusayli Al-Mansoori, said that “the auction is witnessing 11 competitions this year. And each individual has the right to participate and win in only two categories of the competition, and whoever is not lucky is entitled to participate in the other categories, and he is also entitled to participate in one of the two elite races (the Al Dhafra race for the elite Rutab or the Liwa race for the Rutb elite), and it is required to adhere to the date of delivery of samples. According to the categories and dates specified by the organizing committee, noting that dates are not accepted in the competition.

He added: “With regard to the arbitration mechanism, 70% of the evaluation score is calculated on the wetlands participating in the Mazayna site, while 30% of the evaluation score is calculated after the arbitration committee inspects the farm and ensures its general cleanliness and the care of the palm through appropriate placement. And the use of modern irrigation methods that save water, and so on.

As for the judging mechanism in the competition of the largest specimen, it is through the weight of the largest specimen in kilograms, and the weights are arranged from the most weight to the lowest, and the highest weight gets the first place, then the second and third, and the centers are arranged in this way up to the 15th place.

 Various categories

The competitions in the festival are divided into: 11 wet competitions (Dabbas, Khalas, Fard, Al-Khunaizi, Boumaan, Chichi, Akbar Azth, Al Dhafra and Liwa competitions for elite dates, Fard and Khalas Al Ain competitions), and seven competitions for fruits (variety and local lemons, assorted and local mangoes, The red and yellow figs, the fruit basket of the house), and three categories within the model farm competition (Western records, Eastern records, Al Dhafra cities), the most beautiful fairy tale competition, and the most beautiful heritage anthropomorphic competition.

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