On October 29, the "IV Palm Festival" was held in order to widely promote palm cultivation, which is one of the traditional agricultural fields of Balakan region.

Representatives of ministries and state institutions, palm producers and exporters, as well as residents of the district took part in the festival organized by the Executive Power of Balakan District, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Culture, Agrarian Innovation Center and "Balkhurma" LLC.

The festival participants and guests first paid tribute to the memory of the national leader Heydar Aliyev and arranged flower bouquets in front of the monument of the genius leader erected in the culture and recreation park, on a mountain height.

After that, an excursion was held to the company "Balkhurma" LLC located in the territory of Katekh village, palm trees were planted in the territory of the village.

At the official opening ceremony of the festival held in the cultural and leisure park named after Heydar Aliyev, Islam Rzayev, the head of the Executive Power of Balakan District, Anar Jafarov, director of the Agrarian Innovation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gadir Yusifov, the chairman of the board of the Date Producers and Exporters Association, spoke and congratulated the festival participants on the occasion of the remarkable holiday. It was reported that holding the palm festival is a project of special importance for Balakan region.

Islam Rzayev, the head of the Executive Power of Balakan District, stressed during his speech that this festival will stimulate the development of agriculture, including fruit growing in Balakan, as well as the importance of promoting the sale of local products in foreign markets. At the same time, holding the date festival plays an important role in promoting national traditions, hospitality, tourism opportunities of the region, and promotion of dates and products made from them. It was brought to attention that more than 187 thousand tons of dates are produced in Azerbaijan per year.

In recent years, "Balakan Foods" enterprises have been established under the "Balkhurma" and "Balacans" canneries, which are engaged in the production of dried fruits, including dates, due to private investments in the region. Fruits for production at the "Balkhurma" enterprise, which has an annual production capacity of 4 thousand tons, are collected from private palm fields of residents of the region and other regions. Fully hygienic and environmentally friendly palm products are exported to domestic and foreign markets.

Director of the Agrarian Innovation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, Anar Jafarov, in turn, touched on the importance of festivals and exhibitions held in the agricultural field.  Anar Jafarov, who pointed out that palms have a special place in the export market, noted that this festival held in Balakan region will make an important contribution to the development of the agricultural and tourism sectors of the region. Emphasizing that the Ministry of Agriculture is closely involved in the organization and holding of field product festivals in the regions, he said that this year, with the support of the Ministry, "Apricot Festival" was held in Samukh district, "Raspberry Festival" in Goygol district and "Palm Festival" in Balakan district.

Anar Jafarov noted that the Ministry of Agriculture supports the organization of direct sales of products produced by farmers, the support of cooperation between farmers and suppliers, and the regular holding of festivals and regional product exhibitions in the regions.

Then the participants of the festival visited the culinary products and compositions made of dates, and the stands where agricultural products were exhibited in the festively decorated park.

Palms, apples, pears, walnuts, hazelnuts and other fruits, as well as beekeeping, meat, milk, vegetable products and various products on display caused great interest of the festival participants.

During the festival, the guests tasted the samples of Balakan cuisine, the performance of folklore groups added a special color to the atmosphere of the event.

The IV Palm Festival ended with a concert program on the square in the territory of the culture and recreation park.

It should be noted that Balakan district occupies one of the leading places in the republic in terms of palm production. Currently, there are 773 hectares of palm orchards in the region, and 15,000 tons of fruit have been collected from the orchards. 90 percent of the produced palms are exported abroad.