The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Egypt office today organised an inception workshop on a technical cooperation project to develop the value chain of dates in Egypt.

The workshop is part of the country’s Date Palm Strategy, launched in October during the 2nd Egyptian Date Palm Festival at Siwa oasis. It was held in cooperation with the ministry of trade and industry, the ministry of agriculture and land reclamation, the Khalifa International Date Palm Award and Agricultural Innovation, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

The workshop was organised to discuss the project's general goals and outline, devise a detailed action plan, and learn lessons from similar projects.

Commenting on the workshop, FAO Representative in Egypt, Dr. Hussein Gadain, said: “Implementing the Date Palm Strategy is expected to qualify Egyptian dates to compete in international markets. The project seeks to present a successful model by executing an action plan under ideal conditions and putting the strategy to work at Siwa, in coordination and cooperation with all stakeholders. We hope that other regions will follow suit.”

For his part, FAO Project Advisor, Abdullah bin Abdullah, said: “One of the goals of the project is to enhance the income sustainability for date growers, producers, harvesters, exporters, and merchants. The project is expected to help produce high quality dates to compete globally. Good date types or varieties will be preserved as genetic resources and used to create a gene bank.” Read on here.