Doha, July 24 (QNA) - The 10th edition of the Local Date Festival kicked off Thursday at Souq Waqif East Square, sponsored by the Ministry of Municipality and the Souq Waqif Management.

More than 100 local farms participated, with a large official and public presence.

The festival will continue until Aug. 7, welcoming visitors daily from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM, and from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

The festival is being held in a traditional atmosphere that reflects the importance of dates in Qatari food culture and local heritage.

The opening ceremony was attended by Eng. Fahad Mohamed Al Qahtani, Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture and Food Security Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality , and Abdulrahman Mohammed Al Nama, representative of the Private Engineering Office.

A number of officials from the Ministry and the Souq Waqif Management were also present, including Yousef Khalid Al Khulaifi, Director of the Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Mohamed Abdullah Al Salem, Director of Souq Waqif and General Supervisor of the Festival.

In a statement on this occasion, Yousef Khalid Al Khulaifi emphasized that the festival has witnessed significant development since its first launch in 2016, when only 19 farms participated.

The current edition has seen 116 participating farms, reflecting the growing interest in local crops.

He noted the increasing turnout of visitors and the fruitful cooperation with Souq Waqif Management, which has contributed to the success of this event over the past years.

For his part, Mohammed Abdullah Al Salem explained that Souq Waqif is keen to organize this festival annually in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipality to support the local agricultural sector.

He noted that the site designated for the festival has been fully equipped by the Ministry to provide a suitable environment for farmers and visitors.

He considered the market's central location in the heart of Doha to attract large numbers of visitors, making it an ideal platform for marketing local dates.

The Director of Souq Waqif and General Supervisor of the Festival said that the last edition of the festival recorded sales exceeding 240 tons of dates, and he expects even better results this year, thanks to the high quality of local production and the wide participation of Qatari farms, which offer a diverse selection of dates and their extracts.

The festival is one of the country's most prominent agricultural events and comes within the framework of national efforts to support local production and enhance food security by encouraging farmers to improve the quality of their production and develop date varieties in line with Qatar's National Vision for Sustainable Development. (QNA)