Sultanate bags top position at date palm poems competition

ABU DHABI: The Sultanate captured top positions at the second version of the Date-palms Poems competition 2018, which was held on the sidelines of the 6th international conference for date-palm tree, currently being held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Poet Ahmed bin Mohammed al Muqbali came first and bagged a shield and an appreciation certificate from the Secretariat General of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm Tree and Agricultural Innovation. Poet Rashid bin Hamad al Dhahi came second and Abdulaziz bin Hamad al Umairi was third.

The awards were delivered in a special ceremony organised by the Secretariat General of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm Tree and Agricultural Innovation.

A number of Omani researchers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries are participating in the conference with 4 working papers on the most important technologies that have been tested and implemented in the Sultanate, in cooperation with the Date Palm Development Project in the GCC, managed by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Dr Salim bin Ali al Khatri, Director of the Plant Protection Research Centre, presented a discussion session on the integrated management of red palm weevil by FAO.

Dr Yousef bin Mohammed al Raisi, Director of the Palm Research Centre at the Directorate-general of Agricultural and Animal Research, will discuss the technique of liquid pollination for palm trees.

Dr Hamdan bin Salim al Wahaibi, Director of the Soil Research Centre, will discuss the use of under-surface irrigation for palm trees and their role in reducing irrigation amounts of 40-50 per cent compared to fountain irrigation.

Dr Khalid al Shuaili, Head of Food Industries Research Department at the Palm Research Centre, will also discuss the date drying technique using the polycarbonate chambers and their economic feasibility for farmers in terms of raising the quality of dates. Marwa al Hinai, a biotech researcher at the Department of Biotechnology Research at the Palm Research Centre, presented research on the genetic DNA of some Omani date palm varieties, in which DNA analysis was conducted to the genetic variation of Omani varieties using modern biotechnologies. — ONA