Latest news with #localfarmers
Asharq Al-Awsat
20 hours ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
AlUla Launches Summer Fruits Season as Part of 'Khayrat AlUla' Initiative
The Summer Fruits Season started in AlUla on Tuesday as part of the 'Khayrat AlUla' initiative implemented by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU). The initiative aims to showcase the region's agricultural diversity and reinforce its connection to the cultural and economic identity of the area. The season is taking place at Al Manshiyah Farmers' Market from July 22 to 28, where local farmers are presenting a variety of fruits for which AlUla is known, including mangoes, grapes, and figs. The event also features participation from local productive families in a festive atmosphere that highlights the authenticity and economic importance of agricultural heritage. The Summer Fruits Season is one of AlUla's most prominent agricultural production periods, with over 4,900 tons produced annually from around 216,000 fruit-bearing trees. The event is part of the broader Khayrat AlUla series, which includes seasons for dates, grapes, citrus fruits and honey. These efforts align with RCU's goals to strengthen food security and develop agricultural communities in line with Saudi Vision 2030. The season contributes to empowering farmers, expanding marketing channels for their produce, and developing sales outlets connected to visitors, fostering long-term sustainability for the region's agricultural sector.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
AlUla's fruitful summer harvest marks community celebration
RIYADH: The Royal Commission of AlUla on Monday announced the start of the much-anticipated Summer Fruits of AlUla Season. The first event in the annual Khayrat AlUla harvest celebrations runs from July 22 to 28 at Al-Manshiyah Farmers Market. Khayrat AlUla celebrates the region's agricultural heritage. (SPA) It highlights the produce of local farmers and productive families, and includes events for the display of dates, citrus, pomegranates and honey. The initiative supports the commission's goals of driving economic growth through community engagement and development projects tied to AlUla's harvest cycles. AlUla's mango farms cover 125,000 hectares and yield over 1,125 tonnes, including the sanarah and zubda varieties. AlUla is home to more than 5,000 farms and more than 50,000 trees. Its mango farms cover 125,000 hectares and yield over 1,125 tonnes, including the sanarah and zubda varieties. The region also produces over 3,141 tonnes of figs, grapes, and pomegranates across more than 348 hectares. Khayrat AlUla is held annually to celebrate the region's centuries-old agricultural heritage, known for its high quality, distinctive produce. The event reflects a deep-rooted culture of farming, passed down through generations, balanced with modern sustainability practices that safeguard natural resources. The commission places strong emphasis on agriculture as a pillar of local economic development, which includes a boost for the tourism industry.
Arab News
16-07-2025
- Arab News
Jazan's Black Mountain rises to new tourism heights
RIYADH: Black Mountain, located in Al-Raith governorate of the Jazan region, is one of Saudi Arabia's most striking natural landmarks, according to a Saudi Press Agency report. Named for its dark, volcanic rock formations, the mountain offers more than just dramatic colors. It is a place of raw natural beauty and ecological significance. Rising more than 2,000 meters above sea level, it ranks among the highest peaks in Jazan. Its rugged surroundings include sloping plains and winding valleys that attract hikers, nature photographers, and those seeking solitude in nature. For much of the year, especially in winter and spring, the mountain's peaks are cloaked in fog. Its slopes are lined with native trees and traditional agricultural terraces that have supported generations of local farmers cultivating corn, millet, and coffee. Several villages sit nearby, where locals maintain a deep connection with the land, the SPA reported. Folklore passed down through generations speaks of the mountain as a refuge for shepherds and travelers in earlier times. With the rise of ecotourism and outdoor exploration across the Kingdom, interest in Black Mountain has grown. Young hikers, campers, and photography enthusiasts are increasingly drawn to its scenic terrain. To support this, authorities are developing the site with walking trails, observation points, and informational signage that highlights local culture and biodiversity.
The Independent
15-07-2025
- The Independent
The ‘bully' and the ‘silly man with silly ideas': How Sycamore Gap fellers brought shame on tight-knit communities
Dotted along the edge of Hadrian's Wall, the pretty archetypal English villages of Kirkandrews and Grinsdale are the final stops for walkers and cyclists before the urban sprawl of Carlisle. There's no pub, or a shop. There are two village halls. One, now closed, was once a popular dance hall and used by the local young farmers' club. The other, a single-storey brick building, holds regular coffee mornings and afternoon teas. There used to be a railway with a station, but the unprofitable line shut in the 1960s. And the villages, with a combined population of around 600 people, would have gone largely unnoticed had it not been for one of their residents cutting down the iconic Sycamore Gap tree on the night of 28 September, 2023. Dan Graham was a well-known bully, according to neighbours, who would often spot him riding a horse trap or driving around in his groundworks company lorry. The local parish council even publicly claimed residents were threatened by his 'dominant and oppressive behaviour' in a lengthy planning dispute over his claim for the permanent siting of a caravan in the village. But they could still not believe what the 39-year-old would do. Alongside his former best friend Adam Carruthers, Graham travelled during a storm to the dip in Hadrian's Wall where the Sycamore Gap tree once stood, and chopped it down with a chainsaw. No one knows for sure which one of the pair did it, or who filmed it on a mobile phone. But it doesn't matter - both vandals have disgraced the communities in which they lived. 'It's embarrassing,' one neighbour told The Independent. 'That someone from your neighbourhood could have done something so heinous, it's shameful and upsetting for everyone living here. He was a bully, a difficult person, but to do this? Never.' Graham was no stranger to local police, say locals, who often spotted marked cars outside the entrance gates. It has emerged he had convictions for violence and battery between 2007 and 2016 and for Public Order Act offences between 2021 and 2022. He also had a caution for stealing logs, which he had chopped up with a chainsaw. It was his criminal activity and Graham's tree surgery work that perhaps fuelled the immediate rumours that swirled around the village in the wake of the felling, indicating he was responsible It wasn't until Northumbria Police received a 'strand of intelligence' two weeks later that officers carried out the dawn arrest of Graham at his home. 'Within a couple of days, people were saying it was him,' the neighbour said. 'It was a case of waiting for him to be caught, and when he was convicted at the trial, there was a sense of relief, but also embarrassment over his link to the area.' They added: 'But no one knows why he did it, do they? We heard it was a bet. Either he lost a bet or someone made a bet with him to chop the tree down. The problem is no one will ever really know, will they?' At their sentencing hearing, it emerged that Graham and Carruthers had both now accepted responsibility, but it's still not known why they did it. The suggestion of a bet only adds to the list of unproven theories put forward, which also includes Carruthers wanting a trophy wedge from the tree as a present for his newborn child. During the two-week-long trial, Graham had described himself as a 'man with no friends'. He said he lived a quiet life, only seeing his co-accused Carruthers and his on-off girlfriend outside of work. A falling-out with his family at the funeral of his father brought him closer to Carruthers, who helped fix his father's Land Rover Defender for the ceremony. Down a track less than half a mile from Graham's home, a woman living with her parents and children in a caravan said: 'He was the type who kept himself to himself in that yard, we really didn't see much of him.' More recently, she said her family had a 'gripe' with Graham after he told environmental officials they had polluted the river that passed his compound. 'He'd been digging across the field and pointed the finger at us,' she said. 'Like everyone round here, we're really shocked,' she added. Also nearby, a neighbour remembers when detectives first arrived to arrest Graham and search his compound. They discovered chainsaws, but never found the machine that cut down to the Sycamore Gap, or the wedge of tree that was pictured in his car boot when he returned from the crime. 'He was a ruffian, so it wasn't a complete surprise when [we] heard about the evidence,' they said. 'No one really knew him, though. You'd see him driving the van, and you'd hear about the developments on the yard he shouldn't be doing. But no one really went to speak to him. Why would they?' Graham told the jury that he and Carruthers had 'bumped into each other', before forming the close relationship. But by the summer of 2024, their friendship was teetering under the pressure of evidence put to them by police. Then, in August, Graham dropped a bombshell when he made a 10-minute 101 call to police, pinning the blame on his friend. 'One of the lads, Adam Carruthers, has got the saw back in his possession,' he said. Turning the screw even further, in December, Graham posted a picture of Carruthers on Facebook. But Carruthers, despite the finger-pointing from his co-accused, never directly blamed Graham, even when giving evidence in court. For Carruthers, unlike Graham, neighbours of his parents in the town of Wigton, a 45-minute drive from Graham's home, said they were shocked to find out the 32-year-old's involvement. One neighbour said he was a 'silly man with silly ideas', but admitted his surprise when the case got to court. The neighbour said: 'He liked his cars, he was a mechanic. He was doing alright at one point. He had a job at the factory [Innovia Films], but then was caught doing up cars on a day he should have been in. He was an ordinary lad, really.' In a pub in Wigton, a drinker said he knew Carruthers because he did the MOT on his vehicle twice. 'He's not the bad guy in this,' he said. 'He got pushed into this by the other one, Adam was alright.' Carruthers was living with his partner in a ramshackle yard at an old fuel depot next to RAF Kirkbride airfield at the time of the Sycamore Gap felling. Rusting cars and machinery sit around the gated compound, where dogs guard the entrance. His partner Amy Connor had given birth less than two weeks before the tree came down. It was the prosecution's case at the trial that Carruthers had kept the wedge from cutting down the tree as a present for the newborn. Graham, when giving evidence, claimed Carruthers had a 'fascination' with the tree. He alleged Carruthers even had a length of string in his workshop, which he used to measure the tree's circumference and kept for sentimental reasons. Neither the used chainsaw, wedge of tree or length of string was ever found. Like the questions of motive behind the criminal damage, information on the whereabouts of the items looks to remain locked up with the pair who were sentenced to four years and three months in prison, as many continue to mourn the loss of the Sycamore Gap tree.
Arab News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Settlers and Palestinians clash in West Bank village
SINJIL, Palestinian Territories: Dozens of Israeli settlers and Palestinians clashed Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Sinjil, where a march against recent settler attacks on nearby farmland was due to take place. AFP journalists saw local residents and activists begin their march before locals reported that settlers had appeared on a hill belonging to the village. Palestinian youths marched toward the hill to drive away the settlers, setting a fire at its base while the settlers threw rocks from the high ground. Local Palestinians told AFP that settlers also started a fire. Several Israeli military jeeps arrived at the scene and soldiers fired a few shots in the air, causing Palestinians to withdraw back to the village. Anwar Al-Ghafri, a lawyer and member of Sinjil's city council, told AFP that such incidents are not new, but have intensified in recent days in the area, just north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. 'A group of settlers, with support and approval from the Israeli army, are carrying out organized attacks on citizens' land,' he told AFP. 'They assault farmers, destroy crops, and prevent people from reaching or trying to reach their land,' he said, describing the events that had prompted Friday's march. The settlers involved in Friday's clashes could not be reached for comment. Israeli authorities recently erected a high fence cutting off parts of Sinjil from Road 60, which runs through the entire West Bank from north to south, and which both settlers and Palestinians use. Mohammad Asfour, a 52-year-old resident, told AFP that the fence was isolating his community, like other Palestinian cities and towns that recently had gates erected by Israel to control access to the outside. 'Sinjil is suffering greatly because of this wall. My house is near it, and so are my brothers' homes. The settler has the right to come to Sinjil — but the sons of Sinjil aren't allowed to climb up this hill,' Asfour said. Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 2023 triggered the Gaza war. Since then, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 947 Palestinians, including many militants, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to Israeli figures.
