New additions to Local Harvest brand of dates

For the next three weeks, the Abu Dhabi Farmers Services Centre (ADFSC) will add fresh dates to its Local Harvest brand.

The month-long season of ratab (half ripe dates) is coming to an end in August and ADFSC is giving the opportunity to date palm farmers in the emirate to sell the best crops to consumers.

“As part of Local Harvest’s continuing mission to open up marketing channels for farmers, we are proud to deliver locally grown dates to major retailers in the UAE,” said Chris Hirst, Chief Executive Officer of ADFSC. The dates come from farmers who have contracts with ADFSC and therefore practise date palm farming according to the centre’s standards. There are 24,065 date palm farms in Abu Dhabi emirate with a total of 6,946,572 date palm trees, but ADFSC only works with a couple of hundred of them.

Prior to ADFSC’s arrangement with farmers, surplus fresh dates were used as livestock feed, given away or even wasted, but under the ADFSC scheme, farmers will be able to meet their supply requirements with Al Foah Company and still sell a small percentage of their crop to ADFSC.

All farmers have to do is bring their dates to one of Local Harvest’s pack houses — there are three of them, in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Western Region. Here, they will undergo a number of quality tests, then they will be packed and delivered to retail outlets across the UAE.

Local Harvest, which usually commercialises basic fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicum and aubergines, as well as meat, dairy and honey products, all locally grown in Abu Dhabi, is currently procuring 600 kilograms of fresh dates per day for supply to major retailers until August 15.

In 2010, the centre initiated a programme of better managing date palm farming that involves treating the trees with controlled-release fertilisers, soil additives and organic plant food. It started in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi with 20,000 palm trees from 50 farms. The result was healthier trees and bigger fruits. The programme also changed irrigation practices, saving a lot of water, from as much as 1,500 litres per day per farm, to just 30 litres per day, also keeping the roots of the trees healthier. The bigger and tastier fruit these farms produce can be tasted in supermarkets since 2012, when ADFSC first introduced its ratab dates in the Local Harvest brand.

“We have been working extensively with farmers to improve date palm health and the quality of the fruit since the inception of ADFSC in 2009,” said Hirst.

According to him, many farmers, especially from Liwa region and Al Ain, have contracts for dried dates with the Al Foah Company. A wide variety of fresh dates will be offered, including Birhi, Naghal, Khinaizi, Sukkari, Shishi, Khalas, Abu Maan, Suggi’i, Lulu and Hilali, each variety labelled accordingly. They will all be available in pre packed boxes of half kilogramme, one kilogramme and two kilogrammes at Spinney’s, Lulu, Carrefour, Choithram and Geant supermarkets, as well as ADFSC souqs in Abu Dhabi area, Al Ain and Liwa.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com