Qatar is experiencing a significant leap in quality in agricultural production. Youssef Al Khulaifi, Director of the Department of Agricultural Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality, said that as the local production of vegetables during 2021 amounted to about 102,000 tonnes, compared to 55,000 tonnes in 2017, thus the rate of self-sufficiency of local vegetables increased from about 20% in 2017 to reach about 46% during 2022, a growth rate of about 130 percent.
The economic value of agriculture
The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the policies and directions of Qatar, due to its social and economic dimension. And it has gained more attention, so that its contribution to the domestic product has become significant. Al Khulaifi revealed that Qatari farms use modern farming systems and the Ministry has distributed 2,436 ordinary greenhouses, 1,712 refrigerated houses, 100 houses dedicated to modern hydroponics and 100 rooms for drying dates to improve their quality.
The primacy in Asia
The global food security index testifies to the success of these measures and evidence that the country is moving in the right direction. It is no coincidence that Qatar ranked first in the Arab world in this field (and ranked 22 globally). Along the same lines is the intention to expand the circle of plant and animal agricultural products, such as vegetables, dates, red meat, poultry, eggs, fish, dairy and green fodder.
Qatar has also given special importance to food control in terms of health and quality.
The three cornerstones
Qatar National Food Security Strategy is based on a systematic plan aimed at achieving secured self-sufficiency ratios of food commodities, while preserving natural resources, and giving a large space for the private sector to contribute to achieving the objectives of the strategy.
After crossing the threshold for dairy products and fresh broiler chickens, now the goal is to reach the self-sufficiency rate for red meat.
Development prospects for the fisheries sector
As regards fishing, Qatar has focused on fish farming projects as an appropriate way to increase fish production without exhausting the stock.
In addition, the inauguration of the Aquatic Fisheries Research Center in Ras Matbakh, which is considered one of the major productive research centers that support fish farming in the country, will provide the necessary environment for establishing fish farming projects.
Source: thepeninsulaqatar.com
