Al Foah Company, owned by Abu Dhabi’s Senaat, revealed that it received approximately 100,000 tonnes of dates at the end of the dates marketing season for 2017, which ran from August 12 to October 31.

Eng Dhafer Ayed Al Ahbabi, chairman of Al Foah Company, said: “Approximately 18,000 farmers from all over the country marketed their dates at eight date-receiving centres in: Al Foah, Al Saad, Abu Kariyah and Ghamd in the Eastern Area, Seih Al Khair, Al Marfa and Ghiyathy in the Western Area, in addition to Al Thaid in the Northern Area.”

Al Ahbabi added that Al Foah was keen to harness all potentials and provide all services and facilities needed to serve the farmers as they were regularly paid so that they would be able to cover their farms’ needs during the season.

He also pointed out that total financial payments made from the beginning of the season until the previous instalment amounted approximately Dh506 million ($137.7 million). The farmers’ dues will be paid off for marketing their dates during the upcoming period.

For his part, Musallam Obaid Al Khales Al Ameri, chief executive officer of Al Foah Company, asserted that the company was keen to provide the centres with all the modern equipment necessary for serving the interests of the farmers in order to contribute to facilitating and accelerating the process for receiving dates.

It indicated that Al Foah received approximately 100,000 tonnes of dates: around 59,000 tonnes received from the farmers in the Eastern Area, more than 32,000 tonnes from the farmers in the Western Area and 9000 tonnes from the farmers in the Northern Emirates.

He further noted that the largest quantity of Kharayef dates (first harvests) received has been of ‘Al Khalas’ type, followed by ‘Dabbas’ and then ‘Fard’.

Al Ameri stated that large quantities of Kharayef dates have been received; whereas, the date receiving centre at “Seih Al Khair” topped all other receiving centres in terms of the total quantities received during the season, followed by “Al Saad”, and then “Abu Kariyah” date-receiving centres.

Mohammad Ghanim Al Mansoouri, deputy CEO of Al Foah Company, indicated that during the season more than 183 different temporary positions were occupied by national trained cadres during the dates marketing season to provide the necessary help, such as data entry and quality control employees, in addition to an elite staff of date experts, who have the competency and experience in classifying dates, not to mention many other kinds of jobs.

Al Mansoouri asserted that the Al Foah Call Centre is working very hard to ensure farmers' satisfaction by increasing the level of the services provided to them.

These services include replying to farmers’ inquiries, making appointments for marketing their dates, monitoring payment instalments, making appointments for retrieving plastic boxes, receiving complaints and suggestions, as well as many other services that are available to the farmers.

It’s worth mentioning that the farmers can call the toll-free call centre for updating the details of their bank accounts, in addition to inquiring about the financial payment instalments, given that Al Foah provides an interactive voice response (IVR) service, in both Arabic and English languages.

This modern system includes a number of easy-to-use options related to reservations, retrieving boxes, financial payments, and any other inquiries or suggestions that are in the interests of the farmers, and that contribute to providing a high-quality service for them, 24/7, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service