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UAE: Firm denies reducing prices of dates

ABU DHABI - There seem to be fewer companies present at the Liwa Date Festival this year, but one that could never give it a miss is Al Foah, the largest dates buyer in the UAE.

"At the six receiving centres we have across the emirates, we buy 75,000 tonnes of dates every year, all from UAE producers," said Mohammed Ghanim, director of external relations at Al Foah.

As for sales, from this year it has been expanded to 28 countries, including Eastern Europe, as well as parts of America, Australia, Asia and Western Europe.

Farmers across Abu Dhabi emirate have complained, though, that in the past few years, Al Foah has reduced the buying prices and some of them now prefer to use the dates as animal feed than to sell it at the low prices.

"That is not actually true. We do have a few large farms selling to us, from Dh1,000 before to Dh100 now, but we concentrate more on the small and medium farms," said Ghanim.

All in all, Al Foah is working with 16,000 small, medium, above medium and large farms. The large category means over 15 tonnes of dates.

During the festival, no dates will be bought, as the company only purchases "tamar" dates, the fully ripe ones, rather than the half-ripe "ratab".

"The 'tamer' will not be ready until later next month and that is when we will start receiving them at our centres," added Ghanim.

The business of heritage
The Liwa Date Festival has a much stronger emphasis on local customs and traditions this year, with competitions planed for folkloric groups and handicrafts.

In one of the three wings of the specially designed tent, the souq has been set up and this summer no less than 159 outlets are selling a variety of handicrafts.

The festival's renowned hospitality has added even more colour through the demonstration of women's handicrafts at the 12 guest corners or "majlis" - the hospitality tent. The best products, based on quality and authenticity, will be rewarded later in the festival.

To encourage both men and women to learn and preserve Emirati handicrafts, Al Sawghah, part of the Khalifa Fund for Developing Small and Medium Enterprises, is also present in the festival.

Supervisor Laila Bin Al Qasim explained that the initiative aims at invigorating the Emirati heritage and making it a way of living for the local communities.

"This is why we looked for men and women with handcraft skills and enrolled them at training workshops to develop their skills further and give them the necessary information about production and marketing," she said.

"The financial returns generated through the initiative's participation in the festival doubles our benefit through the social integration of women and the exposure of their productive and creative skills that must be further encouraged."

Another big, traditional attraction in the festival is the "ayalla" (gun) folkloric show. Among the dozens of participating groups are the Al Ain Youth. Established in 2005, the group has 50 musicians and singers, specialising not just in "ayalla", but other Bedouin-inspired performances, such as "alyulah" or "alharbeyah".

"Ayalla symbolises a war between two tribes, with attacks and retreats and duels at fast tempo, culminating with the peace that prevails among the fighting parties," said Mosbeh Khalfan, the group's supervisor.

By Silvia Radan

© Khaleej Times 2010