(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) will start collecting yellow dates from farmers across the governorates of the sultanate for them in warehouses from Sunday. According to a press release, the dates will be collected till December 31.

The ministry continues its role in providing subsidies to farmers who store their harvest in government warehouses. Farmers will be given their rightful subsidy after exporting the harvest directly to the foreign markets, as the ministry encourages them to find new alternative markets.

A ministry statement said that officials won't accept the harvest unless it is clean and dry, and that farmers need to show their IDs to the ministry official at the time of depositing the dates. The ministry emphasised the importance of paying attention to the quality of the products to be exported.

The farmers should ensure that they maintain the quality of their products to compete in the local and foreign markets, said MoCI. The ministry collects yellow dates to turn them into dry ­dates so that they can be made available in local, foreign markets and factories as dry dates are more cost-effective. MoCI has also insisted on farmers taking the initiative to increase the export of yellow dates directly, the release said.

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