The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will conduct a 19th edition of the Liwa Date Festival, which will offer Dh8.3 million in prizes for the best 6 local products.
The festival will begin from July 17 to 30 at Liwa City in the Al Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi Emirate.
The program will be organised by the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee – Abu Dhabi and Emirates Heritage Club, under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of the Presidential Court.
The purpose of the festival is to support UAE’s cultivation and products, which showcase Emirati heritage, create agricultural awareness in society, and highlight the UAE’s efforts to foster sustainable food practices and engage the community in supporting national sustainability strategy.
Contests and prizes
- As per Khaleej Times reports, the Director of the Planning and Projects Administration at the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee, Obaid Khalfan Al Mazrouei revealed that the festival, which coincides with the Year of Sustainability, will feature 23 main competitions for which 293 prizes worth Dh8.3 million have been allocated.
- The competitions include best dates, fruits, model farms, local fruit baskets, and heritage models, in addition to a range of other cultural and heritage contests and events.
- The best dates contest session will cover the following varieties ass, Khalas, Fardh, Khenaizi, Buma’an, Shishi, largest date clusters, and Khalas Al-Ain. The fruit competitions will include the following categories such as mangos, lemons and figs.
- At the traditional souk (an outdoor market in a Muslim country ), pavilions, majlis (assembly), and craftswomen’s corners, visitors can explore these offerings. 165 shops and pavilions will be housed in the souk, which will also have a section just for food trucks, national institutions, and productive families.
Criteria and guidelines for each competition
- Registration and participation will be through the festival’s mobile app
- The app will provide details regarding the competitions’ terms and conditions, the latest updates, entry deadlines, and the dates set by the organising committee
- Participants are required to provide documents proving ownership of the farmland upon registration
- From 8 am to 3 pm. Participants are advised to adhere to the deadlines and regulations
- Entries will be weighed and ranked based on their weight, with the heaviest cluster securing first place. Entries will be accepted only on the first day of the festival
- Each individual can compete in up to two categories, and disqualified participants have the opportunity to participate in other categories as well as in the ‘Al Dhafra’ and ‘Liwa’ elite dates rounds. The Al Dhafra basket is mandatory for all entries
- Participants are instructed to submit crops harvested from their own farms or home gardens. Farm or house ownership
- Winning farms or houses will undergo inspection by the jury.
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