Muscat – A high-level delegation comprising several ministers visited Dakhliyah governorate on Monday and inspected the progress of Nizwa Dates Industrial Complex in Nizwa and the Textile Agriculture Centre in Bahla, affiliated with the Nakheel Oman Development Company (NODC).

The development projects in Dates Industrial Complex and the Agriculture Labour were reviewed by ministers, NODC stated.

The company, through a statement, informed that H E Eng Said bin Hamoud bin Said al Ma’awali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology; H E Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion; H E Sultan bin Salim al Habsi, Minister of Finance; H E Dr Hamad bin Said bin Sulaiman al Aufi, Head of the Private Office; H E Dr Saud Hamoud al Habsi, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources; H E Dr Khalfan bin Saeed al Shuaili, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning; and Sheikh Hilal al Hajri, Governor of Dakhliyah, visited the project sites for their first hand experience.

As per the statement, Ali Said Ali al Araimi, general manager of NODC, gave a detailed presentation on the company’s operations and various programmes, followed by a tour of the dates industrial complex and the Textile Agriculture Centre.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, there are approximately 9mn date palm trees of 325 varieties. The area under date cultivation is estimated at 62,000 feddans (26,000 hectares approx), constituting 22% of the total cultivated area.

Oman has more than 250 indigenous varieties of dates. The most relished varieties among these known for their taste and succulence are the Khalas, Khunaizi and Fardh.

NODC is the main recipient of the dates, as well as the palm waste, harvested in 11 farms distributed across six governorates of the One Million Date Palms Plantation Project.

Another company, Oman Dates Production and Packing Company, which was established in 2018, has invested in a project to set up an integrated factory in Barka and six collection centres in different governorates.

NODC purchases date products from the farmers.