* Festival to run across all Al Meera branches

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) on Monday launched the fifth Local Dates Festival in co-operation with Al Meera Consumer Goods Company at Al Meera’s Hyatt Plaza branch.

The 2020 Local Dates Festival got underway in the presence of senior officials from the MME's Agricultural Affairs and Fisheries departments as well as Al Meera Consumer Goods Company.

The festival is running across all Al Meera branches until the target stock of 300 tonnes of local dates lasts, according to a press statement. This year’s festival is witnessing the participation of more than 100 local farms and dates producers.

Al Meera is hosting the festival for the first time this year through more than 50 branches across Qatar, in line with the precautionary measures in force in the country, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reports. The annual festival has previously been held at Souq Waqif.

Al Meera branches have allocated special areas to display the local dates across all its branches, aimed at active promotion of local products as a top priority. "Al Meera constantly seeks to provide its customers with high-quality goods, which now include the complete range of local dates displayed at competitive prices for the entirety of the festival," the statement notes.

Yousuf Khalid al-Khulaifi, director of the Agricultural Affairs Department, said: “The Local Dates Festival comes under the ministry’s framework of improving the visibility of Qatari products in the local market. The ministry holds the marketing of local produce as a priority that can significantly aid in improving the quality of local agricultural production while reducing waste, to achieve an overall increase in demand.

"The combined efforts are aimed at motivating the local farm owners to increase production and improve quality using modern technology.”

He added that Al Meera’s co-operation in this initiative, being Qatar’s national leader in the retail industry, is "immensely valuable considering the retailer’s legacy in supporting national products".

In line with this, Al Meera has been active in creating initiatives and regularly working with the MME to run campaigns on national products in addition to the successful Premium Qatari Vegetables and Qatar Farms programmes.

Further, al-Khulaifi affirmed that there is co-operation with Al Meera to display fresh products from local farms at its branches in the country, as it provides a good opportunity to market local farm products and also allows the consumer obtain high-quality products at good prices, QNA adds.

Commenting on the launch event, Al Meera Consumer Goods Company said: “We are pleased to host the fifth Local Dates Festival at Al Meera branches this year in co-operation with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment. The Rutab date is a special date as it represents for us the traditions and local culture of our country. By holding the festival this year, we have the unique opportunity to support our community, customers and local producers as part of our continued efforts to support national products.”

The locally produced Rutab will be available to customers with a special promotion by Al Meera. The local Rutab is characterised by distinct production and marketing capabilities that contribute to its freshness and high quality, making it preferable to consumers compared to other kinds.

This year, the festival will include various kinds of home-grown dates such as Al-Barhi, Shishi, Ikhlas and others.