le Off du Date Festival
vendredi 22 juillet 2016 -
La 12e édition du Liwa Date Festival est l’occasion de présenter une production ancestrale mais c’est aussi l’apparition d’une préoccupation sérieuse constituée par les ravages du charançon rouge du palmier qui vont certainement donner lieu à de nombreux échanges.....Off. Pour l’instant, outre une avalanche de communiqués de presse copier coller, on ne sait pas grand-chose, attendons en aout le debriefing.
The red palm weevil is causing trouble for UAE farmers but they’re getting together to combat them. Experts are attending the 12th edition of the Liwa Date Festival, which is on until July 30, where they’ll be focusing the latest innovations for palm trees and dates. The Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Centre will be holding workshops on pests, water rationing and methods of improving productivity and increasing quantity. There are 6.7 million palm trees in the UAE’s capital, and since 2013 the Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Centre has removed five million red palm weevils.
"The centre seeks, through its programmes and projects, to provide the best agricultural solutions, innovations and practices suitable for the local conditions of the UAE, improve the nutrition of palm trees to preserve their great heritage, and increase the productivity and the quality of dates on farms in Abu Dhabi," said Nasser Al Junaibi, Acting CEO, ADFSC. Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Centre will be updating farmers during the event about how it is currently combatting the red palm weevil and other pests threatening the palm trees of the UAE. The centre will also be providing training and technical advice to farm owners in order to raise awareness of the need for water rationing, and methods of improving productivity and increasing quantity.
The red palm weevil (rhynchophorus ferrugineus), is a species of snout beetle also known as the Asian palm weevil. The adult beetles are relatively large, ranging between two and five centimetres long, and are usually a rusty red colour. Weevil larvae can excavate holes in the trunk of palm trees up to a metre long, thereby weakening and eventually killing the host plant.
