Why UAE cares so much about dates: AED from 8 million Festival Awards to Golden Visa for date farmers. world News

United Arab rich

In the country known globally for its steel and horizon, it is date, not skyscraper, which is emerging as the most permanent symbol of UAE. This year, that symbolism embodied when HH was HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and President of Dubai Executive Council, visited the ‘Dubai Dates’ exhibition organized by Hamdan bin Mohammad Heritage Center. There, he announced 1 million in the prize grant to the participants, a gesture that confirmed the place of Palm in the heart of Imirati identity, diplomacy and food security.It was not a formal walkout, but a statement of national priority. Royal support comes at a time when the date is doing more than feeding the Palm tradition, it is strengthening small businesses, affecting immigration policy, guiding permanent agriculture, and even inducting global soft power diplomacy.

A desert heritage with modern currency

The UAE was established in 1971, but the legacy of the date palm in the region pulls back the millennia. Long before the oil money, the Bedouin tribes and early settlers trusted the date palm to build their homes, cure diseases and shade their OASS. Archaeological evidence of the Middle East including Abu Dhabi suggests that date cultivation thrives here for more than 5,000 years.In fact, in Leva, the semi -chandeline on the border of the empty quarter, it was the backbone of existence that allowed human life to flourish in the Arabian interior. Generations used to stay away from the fruits, fronts, tights and seeds of this tree. The founder father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was famous as a “tree of life”, not as a metaphor.Today, the UAE is a house of more than 44 million date palms and produces 76,000 tonnes of dates annually, making it the sixth largest producer in the world, with 160 recognized varieties. And yet, dates are more than agriculture. They are living in inheritance. They appear in the verses of the Quran, line Ramadan’s iftar tables, and the guests are offered as a gesture to welcome Al Ain from Abu Dhabi.But now, they are also a pillar of future policy. With events such as Liwa Date Festival and Dubai Dates Festival and Exhibition, the dated subsistence has gone from the crop to the oath of national ambition.

The importance of palm is not just agriculture, it is spiritual. The Holy Quran refers to the date palm more than 20 times, often combining it with blessings, provisions and heaven. Prophet Muhammad is said to have urged loyalists to break their fasts with dates, a Sunnah still widely seen during Ramadan. Scientific research has since confirmed what ancient knowledge always knew: dated vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are rich in, making them a true superfood. In the Islamic tradition, dates are given to the poor during zakat and painted in Eid ceremony. In Judaism, palm branches are central for the feast of Sukkot, and in Christianity, the Palm Sunday recalls Jesus’ victorious entry into Jerusalem. Even Greek mythology added The Palm with Apollo, believed to be born under one. Religious, then, the palm is cross-cultural, pre-monoothist, and is constantly symbolic, a rare bridge between beliefs in a region is also often defined by partition.That reverence was directly translated into physical form. The first mosque in Islam, the Prophet’s mosque, was built with palm tights and fronts. The Barasti or Arera houses of the early Gulf settlements were fully constructed with palm components. It was not stability. It was existence. And it shaped a whole ethos: nothing has been wasted. Every part of the tree was valued. The same principle now gives strength to the spherical economy of the UAE thinking and stability theory.Modern-day festivals: revival with purpose

Liva Date Festival – Heritage Anchor

Held in Al Dhafra from 14-27 July, the LIWA Date Festival is not just a celebration of dates, it is a nation-building institute. In 2004, Sheikh Hamdan was launched under the patronage of Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, this festival is now in its 21st year, a combination of tradition with innovation. What does it matter here:

Importantly, Liwa serves as a test ground for food security innovation. The UAE’s National Food Security Strategy is betting on smart agriculture in 2051 dry regions, and Palm Groves offer the right pilot. Trees require minimal water, avoid extreme heat, and thrive in sandy soils, everything in UAE occurs in abundance. Leva was also the cradle of the Al -Nahayan ruling family, many of which detect the lineage for its trees. This symbolism is not on a state that holds the dynasty, land and heritage at the center of the national story.

Dubai Dates Festival: Soft Power and Date First Golden Visa for Farmers

If the Leva date is a spiritual house of the palm, Dubai is its modern showroom. The Dubai Dates Festival held at Kalat al -Remal from 25 July to 1 August is now in its second edition, but has already deployed itself as a cultural diplomacy vehicle. with:

… It fuses commerce, education and national branding. It was here that two Thai women farmers, owners of Ovan Farm, more than 5,000 fruit-bearing date palms houses, were awarded the UAE’s Golden Visa, making them the first foreign date farmer to get a 10-year residence. Amirati is known for promoting the health benefits of dates in life and their cultural and religious importance on tiktok, his work attracted the attention of the authorities during a visit to Dubai, where a meeting with GDRFA Director General Lieutenant General Mohammad Ahmed Al Maryry led a surprising nomination for a 10 -year residence.It was a historical moment. Golden visa is usually in favor of entrepreneurs, scientists and investors. Farmers have never been category. But in recognizing these two women, the UAE expanded its definition of value, from capital money to cultural contribution.Their case may be unique, but the message is widespread: heritage is now a passport for the opportunity.

This date palm is important due to the rapid climate challenges, where many other crops struggle. No other plant has given so much for so low. Recognizing its cultural and environmental importance, UNESCO in 2022 inscribed the traditional knowledge and farming of the date palms in its intangible cultural heritage list. Every summer, from June to October, floods with early season varieties such as Al Najal and Al Khatir, the price of cheap and prized for their freshness. While the import from the co-existence of Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iran is more local demand for UAE-developed dates. But the dates are not for consumption yet:

In many ways, the economy of the date is diverse as the UAE.

Inherent in the past, growing in future

The AED 1 million grant of Sheikh Hamdan sends a clear message this year: UAE is building a modern nation in ancient knowledge between rapid digitization and artificial intelligence.Whether it is a golden visa for farmers, a festival that teaches children how to learn the differences between fords, furnace and khanaji, or model farms to reduce water waste, date palm is being used as a platform for cultural protection and strategic innovation. In the UAE, the future is vertical, but is the foundation, and always lies in the sand.