Dates harvest season begins in Oman

Muscat: Several governorates in Oman these days are witnessing one of the famous local activities associated with date-palm production known as 'Tabseel'.
It is celebrated annually by the Omani farmer and is also considered one of the most important agricultural seasons due to its economic return and usually continues for two to three weeks.
The process of Tabseel is the cooking of certain types of dates, the most important of which is locally known as 'Al Mabsali,' which is the main kind for the production of what is locally called 'Busoor' and other kinds such as 'Al Madlouki and Abu Naranja,' which are boiled in copper pots that are resistant to rust and bear high temperature.
Tabseel process begins after the dates have ripened and turn yellow 'Busoor.' Then the Busoor are put in large copper boilers filled with water and are cooked and boiled for 15 to 20 minutes until the Busoor seeds are well cooked, locally called 'Al Faghoor.'
Then it is left in open places in the sun to get dried for 5 to 10 days. This process varies depending on weather conditions and temperature and when Al Faghoor gets dry, it is packed, put into bags and then sold or exported.
Farmers sell their Busoor to the government represented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in addition to foreign markets through its export operations.
In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry affirms its approach and the role it plays in receiving the crop every year in the ministry’s stores in Al Wadi Al Kabir from the various governorates of the Sultanate.
It provides subsidy to farmers who supply their Busoor to the ministry. It also pays subsidy to farmers who directly export their Busoor during 2020 to foreign markets, in order to encourage them to find new and alternative markets.
The Ministry’s readiness to receive Busoor for the year 2019 from the farmers is represented by preparing its Busoor stores in Al Wadi Al Kabir, cleaning them and spraying pesticides on them. The Ministry also awarded a tender for handling and supplying of Busoor, as well as an auction for the sale of Busoor for the Oman Date Production and Packaging Company. The date for receiving Busoor in the stores was during the period 3/11/2019 to 31/12/2019.
The ministry also completed receiving Busoor on December 31, 2019 for three types namely Al Mabsali, Al Madlouki and Abu Naranja. There were 144 suppliers valued OMR144,845.
In 2019, large quantities of Busoor were exported directly by farmers on their own without supplying them to the Ministry’s stores. The Ministry provides a subsidy of OMR62,500 per tonne to encourage farmers to increase the direct delivery of their crops.
The Ministry assures farmers of the need to pay attention to the quality of Busoor that is supplied to it or that is directly exported by them to external markets by paying attention to its cleanliness of all impurities to preserve its reputation and compete with local and foreign markets, as well as seeking to convert some kinds of Busoor into dates for the need of local and foreign factories and markets as they are economically better than Busoor.