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Nahayan Mabarak Honors Winners on March 11

The Khalifa International Date Palm Award announces the winners of its fourth session 2012

Nahayan Mabarak: Khalifa's support enhances the award regionally and internationally

Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Khalifa International Date Palm Award, expressed his appreciation for the Award royal care of the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President, and the support of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Presidential Affairs, which helped the Award gain its leading position at the Arab and international levels, and contributed to strengthening the UAE's pioneering role in caring for the blessed tree and the people who are interested in it around the world.

In a press conference, held on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, His Excellency Dr. Abdelouahhab Zaid, Secretary General of the Khalifa International Date Palm Award, announced the Award winners in its fourth session, in the presence of Dr. Helal Humaid Saed Al Kaabi, Member of the Award Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Financial and Administrative Committee.

"We are proud of the high level that the Award has achieved in its fourth session thanks to the confidence and directives of Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Khalifa International Date Palm Award," Dr. Zaid said.

Based on the report of the Scientific Committee and arbitration of entries for the five award categories and the approval of Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak, the results are as follows:

Distinguished Personality:

- Winner: Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Saif Al Falasi - UAE

Best Development Project:

- First Winner: Improved Date Palm Nutrition Programme - Abu Dhabi Farmers' Services Center / ADFSC - ADFCA - UAE.

- Second Winner: Project Development and Sustainability of Al Ain Oasis - Department of Municipal Affairs - Al Ain Municipality - UAE.

Best New Technique:

- First Winner: An image based system for automatic dates sorting / Mr. Dieffal Abdelhamid / Algeria.

- Second Winner: Contribution of Zeolite Soil Conditioner in Continuous Holding of Irrigation Water and Increasing Yield of Dates / Dr. Nazir Hussain / Ministry of Environment - Qatar.

Distinguished Producer:

- First Winner: Was Withheld.

- Second Winner: Model farm for the date palm / Equally between Mr. Hamad Ali Salman Al Mazroui and Mr. Salman Ali Mansour Mohammed Al Mazroui - UAE.

Distinguished Research and study:

- First Winner: Development of 1000 Microsatellite Markers across the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)Genome / International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) - Syria.

- Second Winner: Antioxidant and Estrogen Like Activity of the Seed of Phoenix dactylifera L. Palm Growing in Egyptian Oases / Dr. Sahar Yusuf Mohamed Al Aqabey - Egypt.

The first winner shall receive an amount of Dh300,000 and a shield and certificate of appreciation, while the second winner gets Dh200,000 with a shield and certificate of appreciation during a grand ceremony which will be held at the Emirates Palace on Sunday, March 11, 2012.

The Award in numbers

Dr. Helal Humaid Saed Al Kaabi, Member of Award Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Award Financial and Administrative Committee, said that that this session was characterized by several key points such as the increase of national candidates that reached 68%, and from the rest of the world was 32%, compared to the previous session.

All categories have remarkably increased as follows:

• Distinguished Personality Category has increased 44%
• Best Development Project Category has increased 40%
• Best New Technique Category has increased 37%
• Distinguished Research and study Category has increased 27%
• Distinguished Producer Category has increased 17%

Entries from the Arab countries have recorded an increase of 30%, while from the rest of the world it reached 46%.

Dr. Al Kaabi presented a summary of the main achievements of the Award Secretariat during the fourth session 2012, which included:

1. A silver coin of 50 Dirham bearing the Award logo and the image of the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the patron of the Award, was issued on the 5th Award anniversary in collaboration with the UAE Central Bank.

2. The Award Annual Book in its third session was issued. It included all activities and events which have been implemented according to the Award Strategic Plan.

3. Issuing the Award Winners Book for the past three sessions (2009, 2010, 2011), allowing researchers and professionals to learn about the content of the winning researches in order to disseminate scientific knowledge on the date palm.

4. Issuing "Building with Palm Leaves" book in English. It is the first scientific book in the field which is considered one component of the palm date, documenting its use in building heritage houses in the pre-oil stage. The book was written by the British researcher Sandra biesik.

5. Participation in the second international dates meeting in Morocco in November 2011, where the Award Stand visited by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, who commended cooperation between the two countries in the field of date palm cultivation and production.

6. Presented a paper in the International Palm Research Conference in the capital Algeria, November 2011, as part of the Award Awareness Campaign in the Arab countries.

7. Launch the National Award Awareness Campaign in the State in cooperation with Farmers Services Centre in Abu Dhabi. Two meetings were held with the palm farmers in Abu Dhabi and in Liwa in the Western Region. This campaign resulted in the increase of the local entries by 68%.

8. Issuing the third volume which includes four issues of the Blessed Tree magazine, the first scientific journal specializing in the Palm in the Arab countries. The magazine has proven successful and contributed to enhancing the specialized scientific media in the Emirates

Dr. Zaid highlighted the support of Sheikh Mubarak to achieve the Award objectives and enhance the leading role of the UAE to develop the palm scientific research, and encourage the date palm sector including the researchers, farmers, producers and exporters, as well as specialized institutions and associations and to recognize personalities involved in Palm, at the local, regional and international levels.

It is worth mentioning that the Award recognition ceremony will be held on Sunday March 11, 2012, at (10:00 am) at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

© Press Release 2012