The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture have participated in the introductory pavilion in the International Dates Conference organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in cooperation with the National Center for Palm Trees and Dates that seeks to create an international platform for developing the dates sector and supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as diversify the economy and maximize the investment abilities of the dates industry through regional and international integration as well as supporting trade and cognitive exchange between participants.
The sector of palm trees cultivation and date production has received great attention from the fund. Since its establishment, until the end of the past fiscal year 1438/1439AH / 2017, the fund has provided 76 loans to date factories, with a total funding value over SAR 417 million. The fund also gave great attention to funding supporting services of the sector, including cooling warehouses for storing agricultural products, including dates. The ADF funded them with a total value of over SAR 295 million.
Within its seven initiatives, the fund launched an initiative for developing the sector of palm trees, dates and manufacturing industries. Several recommendations to help the advancement of the sector were launched, starting from the production phase till the marketing phase, in addition to training local resources and seeking to open marketing channels for Saudi date products.
Over the upcoming phase, the fund seeks to expand supporting manufacturing industries of dates as a result of the large produced amounts of over 1,100,000 tons.
