Buraidah dates fest wows large crowds

BURAIDAH: The largest date festival of Saudi Arabia has kicked off after Ramadan in Buraidah. During the 90-day festival around 300,000 tons of dates will be sold, reaching a combined sales figure of millions of riyals.
Dates are the Kingdom’s most important agricultural product.
A number of exhibitions and competitions have been planned as part of this 11th festival.
“This is the peak season for dates and more than 2,000 vehicles are coming to Buraidah daily to sell thousands of tons of dates,” said Khaled Al-Naqeedan, CEO of Buraidah Dates Festival.
Sukkari is the most popular variety of dates being sold in the market, accounting for 80 percent of total sales. Good quality white and red Sukari dates are sold from SR 50 per box. The prices will go up to SR 270, based on quality.
Other types of dates include Hashishi, Aseela, Rothana and Al-Khalas.
Mudnib, another town located in Qassim, is also currently hosting a date festival with daily sales reaching more than SR 3.3 million. More than 300 vehicles carrying different types of dates arrive at the market every day. The date festivals feature an exhibition of date products as well as handicrafts made of palm trees and leaves.
The festivals offer a big opportunity for farmers as well as traders and consumers.
The governorate and government departments extend support to make these festivals successful.
Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Sultan, mayor of Qassim region, disclosed the government’s efforts to establish a full-fledged date city in Buraidah. “We have already completed the construction of some parts of the city,” he said. “Dates are a strategic commodity that represent the backbone of Qassim’s commerce. It generates millions of riyals for farmers,” the mayor said.
He explained that the date city of Buraidah is a service-based market run by the mayoralty. It serves the farmers, traders and shopkeepers. Qassim Gov. Prince Faisal bin Bandar and his deputy Prince Faisal bin Mishaal extend support for building the date city.
Al-Naqeedan said date farms have been arranged beside the date city to receive visitors, journalists and others who are interested in farming and like to watch how dates are being processed.
“A number of interesting competitions are organized as part of the festival such as climbing in palm trees, a photo competition about the season, the best newspaper report and best television report,” he said.