Irbid’s Pomegranate Festival extends lifeline to Gaza through blood donations

AMMAN — The 15th edition of the Pomegranate Festival kicks off on Thursday in Irbid with an on-site blood donation campaign for people in Gaza, according to the Directorate of Agriculture in Irbid. 

Visitors can shop for fresh pomegranates from local farms in addition to pomegranate-based products, traditional foods, spices and various types of handcrafts. 

However, all celebratory aspects of the festival, such as music, have been cancelled in solidarity with people in Gaza, Director of the Directorate of Agriculture in Irbid Abdelhafez Abuorabi told The Jordan Times. 

He added that a blood donation camp, including twenty beds and a team of healthcare workers, will be established on-site, in cooperation with Irbid Health Directorate. 

The three-day festival is offering a 25 per cent discount on purchases for visitors who donate blood. There will also be boxes to collect in-kind and cash donations for the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation, according to Abuorabi. 

He noted that the directorate had considered cancelling the festival this season due to the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. 

“But since local farmers impatiently wait all year for it [festival] to market their produce, we have decided to go through with the event, while also taking measures to make use of it in order to support our brothers and sisters in Gaza,” he said. 

Abuorabi added that 270 participants will be promoting their products in the festival this year, compared with 200 participants in the 2022 edition. 

He pointed out that the event is a very important “marketing window” in the governorate, particularly for rural women who account for 65 per cent of participants in this year’s edition. 

The festival also encourages tourism and trade activity in the governorate, attracting thousands of visitors every year, he said

Jordan’s northern governorate Irbid is home to approximately 3,000 dunums of pomegranate trees, annually producing around 7,000 tonnes of pomegranate and 30 to 40 tonnes of pomegranate molasses, according to Abuorabi.