Innovation in dates products

Forty producers and traders of date fruits are participating in the exhibition organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources at Oman Avenues Mall.

The main objective is to introduce the date producers to new consumers and at the same time to encourage the producers to think of novel ways of presenting the fruits in comparison to the traditional ways.

The exhibition, which began on the weekend, will continue until October 31 and will be open from 10 am to 10pm.

“This is a way to encourage the date sellers and producers to cope with the current Covid-19 situation and to help them and facilitate by giving them the opportunity to promote themselves and explore new marketing techniques. For this reason we have allocated spaces for small scale producers to showcase their products. We have been encouraging the sellers to be innovative in products’ packaging, presentation and marketing so that it meets the taste of the consumers. This is the main concept of the exhibition,” said Redha bin Said Bait Faraj, Director-General of Agriculture and Fisheries Marketing at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources.

Typically the farmers, date producers, owners of date production processing units and sellers would have taken their produce to traditional markets such as the souqs but now they are being encouraged to think differently.

nutritional value

The exhibition also aims at highlighting the value of Omani dates and its importance in health due to its nutritional value.

“In the past we would see small vacuum packed dates boxes or bowls, but now consumers are looking for a wide variety of options. So the sellers would be presenting in new forms. They present dates as sweet or dessert form and even byproducts as Dates Kahwa — coffee made out of dates,” added Redha.

The participants are coming from Muscat, Al Dakhiliyah, South and North Al Batinah, Al Dhahirah, North and South Al Sharqiyah, as well as Al Buraimi governorates.

As per the Supreme Committee dealing with Covid-19 regulations the participants are divided into groups and will take turns to exhibit their products to maintain the permitted number of exhibitors at the venue as well as customers.

First exhibition of dates was held in 2013.

“This time we have not had any workshops for training but we have continuously been in touch with them for the preparation of the event. We have also taken measures against the spread of Covid-19 by maintaining space between exhibitors and there will be hand sanitisers available everywhere,” noted the Director- General at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources.

The ministry also recently signed an MoU with the Scientific College of Design to advise farmers and date producers and sellers in designing and marketing their products. Another partner supporting the much looked forward to event is Oman Nakheel Development Company.