Al-Amiri said: “It is unfortunate that Saudi dates are not getting due recognition despite their superior quality. Even though the Kingdom’s dates are the finest varieties throughout the world, their presence in the global market is very limited, and not at all right to their volume of production.”

Al-Amiri said that Saudi Arabia exports only five percent of its volume of production that currently exceeds 950,000 tons in a year.

“A lion’s share of this huge bulk of production is consumed locally,” he said.

Al-Amiri drew attention to the case of some other countries, such as Tunisia, which shows its huge presence in the European date market with a single variety of dates known as Dajlat Al-Nour.

“This enables Tunisia to earn huge revenues and thus winning first position among date exporters in the world. As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, it has only a few varieties, like Ajwah and Mabroom of Madinah among some 200 varieties, popular in the global market,” he said while attributing this to the lack of sufficient marketing strategies and promotional activities to introduce and push the Saudi varieties vigorously in the global market.

Al-Amiri spoke at length about the wide variety of aspects concerned with production, marketing and processing of dates in the following interview with Arab News.

Saudi Arabia is represented by some private companies at these fairs. There are also some cities in the Kingdom as well as a number of local universities organizing such fairs and festivals annually. But unfortunately, they are not yet up to the aspirations of this major national industry.

Production is not our only specialization. We also concentrate on seven other sectors. Our presence is significant in most Gulf and other Arab states. Manufacturing of various date products is a major factor in boosting the nation’s economy as well as in increasing revenues of farmers and investors. This would, no doubt, boost the nation’s economy to a great extent.

We engage in supplying dates to factories and various investors who are keen to penetrate into global market with various products of dates. We also undertake training programs for those working at date factories so as to develop their skills and competitiveness.

There is a big scope for transformation. It can fulfill the Kingdom’s  aspirations in this vital sector. It would have a greater and positive impact on the national economy. Dates would become a major source for the Kingdom to earn hard currency if the government utilizes them fruitfully. There are several byproducts from dates, such as molasses, ingredients for chocolates, juices, biofuel and many other products, each of which has the potential of developing. This would create job opportunities for a large number of Saudi job seekers. Dates could be one of the best solutions to unemployment in the Kingdom as well as to further spur the national economic growth. We have carried out a lot of studies focusing on this aspect. Everybody should realize the fact that dates alone could bring about a giant economic boom in the Kingdom.

Festivals are the best meeting point for various sectors, such as traders, farmers, factory owners, those supplying products to factories, businessmen, local and regional marketing companies, and the like.

We always apply new techniques and ideas into the industry, keeping pace with technological advancement. The market has begun to embrace these new ideas. What we have achieved may be little while comparing with those that we have aspired for. But we must take into account that a heavy downpour comes with single drops.

This is an important question. Advancement in the industry should be started with the direct and indirect support by the government. More capital should be pumped into this vital sector. There should also be studies about markets that can accommodate more products. For example, take the cases of Japan and some other countries in Asia and Europe. They give top priority not only to production but also for marketing the products, as well as for promotion of new products through various means of media. These are essential steps to be taken. It is not a difficult task, but it involves brave and novel ideas that are away from the traditional way. We should follow the example of Tunisia, Algeria and some other countries in this respect.

The volume of Saudi Arabia’s annual date production is around one million tons. The total area of date palm farms in Riyadh province alone represents 28 percent (44,000 hectares) of the Kingdom’s date farms. There are six million date palm trees in the Kingdom, of which 70 percent are yielding fruits. Date palm farms in Al-Kharj make up about 25 percent of the total farms in Riyadh province, which tops among others in the number of date factories. There are 46 licensed date factories in Riyadh province, and that represent about 48 percent of the total date-producing plants in the Kingdom. About 50 percent of date factories in Riyadh province are concentrated in Al-Kharj. There are some 24 factories in Al-Kharj, and some of them, like Al-Faisaliyyah, Muhammadiyyah, Durrat Al-Tumur, Al-Bilad, Babatain, Salehiyah, Tamimi, Arabian and Bustan, are the best among the date factories in the Kingdom as a whole.

The most important dangers facing the date farming are the shortage of water and production of some varieties of dates that are not economically feasible. This results in incurring huge losses to farmers. The lack of proper awareness and know-how about the effective ways to combat diseases such as red palm weevil is also posing a big challenge to the farming.

Date festivals can draw a large number of people if there are nonconventional programs and activities for families and children, organized on the sidelines of the events.

Date festivals serve the purpose of attracting tourists. For example, Al-Kharj date festival draws a huge number of tourists from other Gulf states. A large number of people from these states, especially those from the UAE, see this festival as a major cultural and heritage event. Such festivals have the potential to attract even tourists from various parts of the world who are not interested in date products.