ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR
In the Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado Valleys, there is an established area of 3 thousand 088 hectares (Somewhere around 10 thousand acres) of date palms, placing Mexico as the third Medjool Date producer in the world, according to Mexico´s Federal Government.
In order to strengthen ties with the Arab market and seek new market alternatives for date fruit, produced in the Valley of Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, aiming to achieve a productive development of the crop, is the goal of producers from both valleys and academics from Sonora State University (UES) participating in the “International Date Palm Festival MEXICO” and the “Date Fair”.
Both events are going to take place in November 2022, with participation of a group of date producers from the United Arab Emirates and other countries that produce and market the fruit, so it will be important for Mexican date growers to attend, said Juan Manuel Martinez, Representative of Mexico´s Federal Government in Baja California and Northern Sonora.

“MEXICO International Date Palm Festival” will be held in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, on November 9, 10 and 11, 2002, including technical-scientific exhibits by Mexican speakers and from different countries around the world, with a tour of the main date producing ranches in San Luis on the last day of the Festival.
The “Date Fair” will take place in the Mexicali Valley on November 12 and 13, 2022, at AgroBaja facilities, there´s an estimate of around 150 producers participating and showing their production, in addition to a series of cultural events (dances, live music and the participation of the military band, among other activities).
The coordinators of Agriculture and International Affairs, Marco Antonio Herrera and Juan Bernardo Orozco Sánchez, respectively, asked the organizers of both events to present a complete project which will include the Program and the logistics of the Festival and Fair activities to be carried out, given that next Thursday, July 21, Secretary Víctor Manuel Villalobos will hold a diplomatic meeting with the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Mexico, H.E. Ahmed Hatem Almenhali, to present the formal invitation.
Juan Manuel Martinez said that, in order to formalize the Arab visitors participation, the Secretary of Agriculture, Víctor Manuel Villalobos, intervened as leader of the primary sector in Mexico, and he formally invited them.
A video conference held with representatives of the Coordination of Agriculture and International Affairs of SADER (Mexican USDA of sorts), to inform them about the general details of both events.
He mentioned that the heads of the State Representations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Baja California and Sonora participated in the videoconference, as well as personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Hydraulic Resources (SAGARPAH) of Sonora, and other relevant Government officials, academics and date producers.