The sixth edition of the Mahaseel Festival concluded on Saturday, March 12, 2022. The event, which is held in Katara Cultural Village, was a great success overall and helped support and promote the agricultural and livestock sectors in Qatar. As of today, the Mahaseel Souq is open every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday until 15 May 2022 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

This year's festival featured 39 companies, including 25 local farms, seven poultry, meat, and dairy producers, and seven nurseries. In addition to the six food stalls which were present throughout the festival. 

As a result of the high quality and freshness of the products offered, as well as their competitive retail prices, the festival attracted many visitors and shoppers. 

This festival was not just for farmers but also catered to lovers of flowers and plants - a small pot of flowers cost as little as QAR 1, during the peak flower season. The festival also featured an indoor garden, fruit trees, dates, honey, and poultry products. 

According to Peninsula, Abu Saif Apiaries and Café exhibitor Ashley Labrador said they have seen increased sales throughout Mahaseel - natural honey, honeycomb, honey spoons, pollen, and candles made from honey wax are among their products. 

A representative of Global Farm Nursery, Abdul Bashar, said he had been a part of the festival since its inception and has daily average sales of  QAR 8,000 to QAR 14,000.

Moreover, Doha Dates exhibitor Mohammad said, “Every year, we are getting more sales as we have participated since Mahaseel started five years ago.” Their products include packed dates, individually packed dates, date paste, dates syrup, chocolate-covered dates, and fruit-filled dates.

6th Mahaseel Festival, which is going on in started at Katara, spotlights the best of Qatar's agricultural and food products. #Qatar #Doha #festival #agriculture #local pic.twitter.com/8tY9Y7Ig5x

— The Peninsula Qatar (@PeninsulaQatar) March 8, 2022

Mahaseel Festival was launched in 2016 by Cultural Village Foundation and forms a key part of Katara's initiatives that support the Qatari government's efforts to achieve food security and self-sufficiency, aligned with the Qatar National Vision 2030.

The festival was attended by several dignitaries, including Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture in Georgia, H E Nino Tandilashvili; Ambassador of Moldova, H E Victor Tvircun; Georgian Ambassador, H E Nikoloz Revazishvili; and Panama Ambassador Musa Asvat.

The supervisors of the national company booths and representatives from some of the participating farms expressed their satisfaction with the way the event was organized. They observed that the festival had continued to be successful and recognized the reputation of local products such as vegetables, fruits, honey, dates, poultry, and red meat, in addition to milk and other dairy products.

Several farm owners pointed out the festival has become a much-anticipated event in the local market, with shoppers considering it to be their prime source for fresh produce.

Salman al-Nuaimi, head of the festival's organizing committee, said the festival saw a high level of participation from customers and more significant responses from local farms and food producers across a wide range of sectors in Qatar. Moreover, he thanked the Ministry of Municipality and the Qatari Farmers' Forum for their continuous support of Qatari products and for promoting community service.

--

Make sure to check out our social media to keep track of the latest content. 

Instagram - @qatarliving

Twitter - @qatarliving

Facebook - Qatar Living

YouTube - qatarlivingofficial

Image credit & Sources: Peninsula; Gulf Times