Najaf date producers call for better conditions

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: Date producers in the holy Shiite city of Najaf called on Saturday to activate the role of the Iraqi Date Company to enhance confidence in the local product and improve the “deteriorating” conditions of dates production in Iraq, which slumped from the top world ranking to the 10th position. “The current employees working in the Iraqi Dates Company are mediocre and short of transparency in dealing with the farmers. The company people refuse to receive large amounts of dates that are now facing the risk of going bad inside warehouses,” Hassan al-No’mani, the head of the dates producers association in Najaf, told IraqiNews.com news agency. No’mani’s words came during a conference held by the association at the municipal council of the al-Kufa district, (15 km) east of Najaf. The event was attended by 100 date producers and representatives of the Najaf agricultural department. AmR (P)/SR 1