In an effort to continue supporting date farmers in the UAE, in July 2022 ADAFSA and Al Foah part of the Agthia group announced the launch of three date trading channels for UAE date farmers to trade their excess dates outside the subsidy ceiling. 

Since the beginning of the dates’ receiving season, eZad platform has achieved a remarkable success, by managing 613 online auctions, and setting 175 physical ones held in three dates’ receiving centers in Al-Saad, Abu Kariah and Al Dhaid; including 19 well-known date varieties, where the auctions held on the ground witnessed a remarkable presence of registered buyers from 24 countries around the world.

eZad platform is considered as one of the most important alternative markets initiatives to sell dates, which was launched by Abu-Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority in cooperation with Agthia Group and its subsidiary Al-Foah Company last August; eZad advises two types of auctions, virtual ones held online through eZad platform, and the physical auctions which allow date farmers and producers to easily and efficiently sell their dates in excess of the subsidized production ceiling.

And according to the eZad platform, the total number of registered users on the platform reached about 5,217 sellers and 1,455 buyers, the total quantities of dates sold on the platform exceeded 576 tons, and the number of visitors to the platform reached 117,026 visitors since the beginning of the season, as well as a total number of 613 listed auctions, that included 21 favorable varieties of dates.

The eZad.ae electronic platform was launched on August 06 and 3 physical auctions were held starting October 4th  at the Al Saad Receiving Centre. In the presence of H.E. Eng. Mubarak Al-Qusayli Al-Mansouri - Executive Director of the Agricultural Affairs Sector of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, and H. E. Alan Smith - Chief Executive Officer of the Agthia Group, H.E. Mubarak Hudhili Al-Mansouri - Chief Human Capital & Corporate Services Officer, and H.E. Mohammed Ghanem Al-Qusayli Al-Mansouri from Al Foah, as well as senior officials from both parties.

The number of auctions included in the physical auction at Al Saad was 103, including 19 date varieties. Buyers from over 24 countries registered and over 20 visited the physical auction today. 

“We see the importance of these physical auctions for both farmers and buyers. For added transparency we provide an assurance to the buyers that they can visit and inspect the listed auctions online.,” said Mubarak Huthaili Al Mansoori, Chief Corporate Services Officer of Agthia Group. He added “this has gained very positive attention from buyers, and we have multiple International buyers flying in just to be present at these physical auctions.” 

“It’s integral to keep finding solutions to continue supporting our date farmers, these physical auctions are a sound way to encourage farmers to try out the newly launched eZad platform and gain first-hand knowledge on the date specifications most interesting to buyers,” said Mubarak Ali Al Qusaili Al Mansoori, Executive Director of the Agricultural Affairs Sector at ADAFSA. 

To list their dates at any of the physical auctions, farmers need to first register on eZad.ae, a process that takes UAE farmers less than 30 seconds, take an appointment, and come to any of the four receiving centers and certify their dates before 11am to participate in the physical auction.  Once their dates are certified and the lot is listed as an auction, buyers from all over the world can bid on their dates, with or without inspecting them physically.  This is mainly because the certification process that the dates go through is a rigorous process sampling the entire lot that is brought in by the farmer and assessing the dates on their quality, including color, peeling, mold, infestation, and size. The total number of listed auctions 593, including 21 date varieties. Buyers from over 24 countries have registered on the platform. It is worth mentioning that the number of registrations on the eZad platform include 5,130 sellers and 1,451 buyers, the total volume of dates sold on the platform 560 tons, and the total number of visitors to the platform 116,773 visitors since the receiving season began.