Al Foah Announces the Launch of the 2017 Dates Marketing Season

Al Foah Company, a subsidiary of SENAAT owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, announces the beginning of the dates marketing season for 2017, running from 12th August to 26th October. During this period, more than 17,000 farmers from all over the country will market their dates at eight receiving centres in: Al Foah, Al Saad, Abu Kariyah and Ghamd in the Eastern Area, Seih Al Khair, Al Marfa and Ghiyathy in the Western Area, in addition to Al Thaid, which serves the farmers of the Northern Emirates.

On this occasion, His Excellency Eng. Dhafer Ayed Al Ahbabi, Chairman of Al Foah Company, stated that “Al Foah makes all the preparations necessary for receiving the dates from the farmers from all around the Emirates.” He expected that the quantity of dates received for the current season will exceed the total quantity of 106,000 tonnes received from the farmers in the past season. His Excellency declared that the greatest quantity of dates received has been of the Khalas type, followed by Dabbas and then Fard. He stressed the fact that the farmers are highly interested in applying the basic agricultural operations for serving the date palm trees by using the Agricultural Calendar, the Marketing Guide, and other awareness publications, which include all the appropriate services for caring for date palms and the necessary agricultural methods and means for boosting the quality ratio of the dates crop.

Engineer Dhafer Ayed Al Ahbabi added that Al Foah Company, within the period preceding the dates marketing season, announced a number of services for the farmers, including updating their data and issuing new cards for marketing their dates at the respective centres, noting that the data have already been updated for more than 17,000 farmers. Al Ahbabi also recommended that the rest of the farmers should inform these centres of their updated data and thereby complete the procedures that are necessary for marketing their dates during the current season.

Concerning the preparation of the dates receiving centres, His Excellency Musallam Obaid Khales Al Ameri, Chief Executive Officer of Al Foah Company, asserted that Al Foah was keen to provide the centres with all the modern equipment necessary for serving the interests of the farmers, in order to contribute to facilitating and accelerating the process for receiving dates, indicating that approximately 70 docking stations have been set up in the receiving centres. Al Ameri declared that scales equipped with surveillance cameras have been provided, with the aim of controlling performance and ensuring the efficiency of the workflow. He also indicated that more than 300 different temporary positions were occupied by national trained cadres during the dates marketing season to provide the necessary help, such as data entry and quality control employees, in addition to an elite staff of date experts, who have competency and experience in classifying dates, not to mention many other kinds of jobs.

For his part, His Excellency Mohammad Ghanem Al Mansouri, Deputy CEO of Al Foah Company, said that the Al Foah Call Centre is working very hard to ensure the farmers' satisfaction by increasing the level of the services provided to them. These services include: replying to farmers’ questions; making appointments for marketing their dates; monitoring payment installments; receiving complaints and suggestions, as well as many other services that are available to the farmers.

Al-Mansouri noted that the farmers can call the toll free call center on 8005551 for updating the details of their bank accounts, in addition to inquiring about the financial payments installments, noting that Al Foah provides the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) service, in the Arabic and English languages. This modern system includes a number of easy-to-use options related to reservations, payments, financial payment, and any other inquiries or suggestions that are in the interests of the farmers, and that contribute to providing a high quality service for them, 24/7.