Damad Governorate

Damad Governorate is one of the governorates of Jazan Province, southwest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the ninth largest population center in the province. According to the 2022 Saudi Census, it is inhabited by 64,136 people. It is a category (B) governorate.

Damad Governorate is located in the middle of Jazan Province. Al-Shuqayri center and about seventy-five villages are affiliated with it. It is witnessing a distinguished educational renaissance through its public, primary, intermediate, and secondary education, with forty-one schools for boys and fifty-two schools for girls.

Main Road No. five passes through the western borders of Damad Governorate. It is the main land transport center in the governorate and a means of access to and from Damad.

The governorate is served by King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Airport in Jazan. It is the closest airport to Damad, located forty-one km away. It is a regional airport with a capacity of about nine hundred thousand passengers annually.

To keep up with service developments in Jazan Province, the Municipality of Damad City was established in 1992, as a village complex serving the city of Damad and its affiliated villages, the largest being al-Shuqayri, followed by al-Gamri, al-Tahiriyah, Khadira, al-Jahow, al-Mahallah, Wasit, and other affiliated villages. In 2003, the Jazan Province Municipality approved, based on the issuance of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, to change its name to the Municipality of Damad Governorate.

Damad Governorate is full of historical archaeological sites, the most prominent of which is al-Hima Castle, located about twenty km to the east of the governorate. It overlooks the banks of Wadi Damad, one of the famous Tihama valleys. The castle was built by Hussein Bin Ali Al Khairat in 1840 in the shape of a square and its side lengths are (one hundred by one hundred m).

The governorate is home to "Wadi Damad" where the water flows throughout the year, making the land fertile. This is where green farms and various agricultural crops have been established, such as corn, sesame, vegetables, mango, red watermelon, and cantaloupe, in addition to aromatic plants, such as screwpine and mint.

The governorate is distinguished by the annual "Uthq" festival, which is held every year during the planting and harvesting season of the fine red sorghum and white corn. It is one of the most important tourism, economic, and agricultural festivals held in Jazan Province to introduce farmers’ efforts to preserve corn cultivation, methods, and seasons. Moreover, the "Khadir" season is the harvesting of tender green corn grains, in addition to the cultivation of aromatic plants.