Siwa – Siwa Oasis hosted on Nov. 7 the Dates Festival, which is an implemented program to promote date industry through the development of supply chains, focusing on modern technologies of transfer and application. Two representative of AICS Cairo participated to the festival and presented the new approved project “Improve the value chain of Siwa Palm Date Production for Branding".
Siwa is one of Mother Nature’s masterpieces, located about 560 km from Cairo and stretching over 25 meters below sea level. It includes many palm trees meticulously grown between mud-brick homes and has a number of clear springs, lakes and rivers to help villagers escape from the harsh heat of the sun.
After the success of the first three editions of the festival, Siwa hosted the fourth edition in 2018 from November 6-9, in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Secretary-General of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation Abdel Wahab Zayed said earlier that the UAE government will implement three projects for the production of dates in Egypt at total investments amounting to LE 40 million. The Italian cooperation in Egypt financed a project with an Italian NGOs on micro credit in 1999 and through the Egyptian Italian Environmental Cooperation Programme II phase (EIECP) that aimed at improving the governance of natural resources by empowering local communities and linking poverty and environmental management issues at the local level, such as the case of Siwa. The Ministry of Trade through its Agro-Industry technological center will implement the new approved project in two year.
The above-mentioned initiative will focus its activities on:
- Enhance the palm date production and processing chain;
- Enhance marketing chain at both National and International levels;
- Register a new unified brand for Siwa date.
The objectives of the project will include a package of activities that will be implemented mainly in the field through using modern agricultural machinery and high-level technical support to the small and medium farmers and the processing factories in Siwa. It is worth to mention that the project will be realized within a full participatory approach includes all levels of Siwa Community, and all concerned Governmental bodies in order to insure its success and reach its planed outcomes.
