Ethiopia and UAE Partner Up for Advancing Palm Production
April 28, 2025 - In Addis Ababa today, ENA reported the following: The Minister of Agriculture, Girma Amente, along with Abdelouahhab Zaid, who is the Secretary General of the Khalfa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation from the United Arab Emirates, explored potential collaborations in date palm cultivation.
This year, Ethiopia will host the first-ever International Date Palm Festival, after signing an agreement with the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation from the UAE’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Ethiopian agriculture minister Girma Amente Has shown willingness to work together with partnering organizations to arrange upcoming festivals centered around palm products.
The event will include talks about enhanced types of date palms along with new technologies. Farmers, manufacturers, experts, scientists, and representatives from different industries worldwide will join in, emphasizing real-world answers.
The Ministry of Agriculture states that Ethiopia has 500,000 hectares of land appropriate for palm cultivation, but presently, this potential is underutilized with merely around 6,000 hectares being used.
Distant regions such as Afar, Somali, Gambela, Benishangul-Gumuz, Guji, and Borena (within Oromia), along with the Dire Dawa administrative area in Ethiopia, have been pinpointed as possible locations suitable for cultivating palms.
The Khalifa International Date Palm Tree Award, initiated by the UAE government in 2009, has provided global support for date palm farming via educational initiatives and financial assistance for studies.