MUSCAT: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) will receive date crops from today, November 3, till December 31. It will receive Mabsali, Madlouki and Abu Naranja dates from all governorates at its storage facility in Al Wadi Al Kabir.
This is the same as it did in previous years in continuation of its approach to give subsidy to the farmers who supply their dates to the ministry. This is in addition to the subsidy given to the farmers who are directly exporting their crops to the foreign markets.
These subsidies and support are meant to encourage them to find new and alternative markets for their date products.
The ministry said that the work has been entrusted to the Omani company for the production and packaging of dates.
It will carry out the work of receiving, processing, marketing and sale of the crop.
The company has the objective of optimum use of the date products in the Sultanate and increase the gross domestic products.
This will give profit to those who contribute to the efforts, help improve the quality of dates and increase the revenue of the farmers.
This will also help set up partnerships with the owners of the small and medium enterprises and investment and help in innovations and research.
The company will sort and classify the crop coming to it from wilayats according to their quality.
The ministry has urged the farmers to pay attention to the quality of the date products which they supply to the ministry or export directly to foreign markets. They should take care of their cleanliness and purify them of any impurities to maintain its reputation and compete in local and foreign markets.
The ministry wants them to make some types of the raw dates to ripen in order to meet the requirements of the local and foreign markets as it is more profitable economically than the raw dates.
The ministry also says that if the farmers sell their dates to traders or their fellow farmers to be exported abroad through them, it is necessary to obtain the bill or there should be a contract between the farmer and the exporter to prove and guarantee his rights in the subsidy.
There were 544 suppliers of dates during the season of 2018. They have supplied 2,475,331 tonnes of dates together.
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