(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar is expected to be among top ten countries in Global Food Security Index by 2021 thanks to the Strategic Food Security Project 2019-2023 for fast increasing the produce of fresh foods in the country.
'A number of projects are being implemented in cooperation with private sector to ensure the food security in the country under national food security programme which are helping to enable Qatar among top ten countries in the Global Food Security Index by 2021, said Director of Food Security Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), Masoud Jarallah Al Marri.
Al Marri was speaking in a Qatar TV programme yesterday where he highlighted the achievements of Qatar in food security sector on the occasion of World Food Day which falls on October 16.
'Qatar ranked 29th in the index in 2017 when the blockade was imposed. With the help of food security programme, Qatar jumped to 22nd position in 2018 and in 2019 it made another major achievement securing 13th position, said Al Marri.
He said that Qatar achieved self-sufficiency in a number of fresh products — 106 percent self sufficiency in fresh milk and 127 percent in fresh chicken.
'The country achieved 75 percent self-sufficiency in fish production targeting 95 percent by 2023 with the help of under construction fish farming projects on floating cages, said Al Marri.
He said that the fast growing self sufficiency rate in fresh food products indicates that food security programs and projects are being implemented successfully and the strategy is moving towards right direction.
'A number of new projects and programmes were launched under the national food security strategy in 2018 after blockade in cooperation with public and private sectors, said Al Marri.
He said that private sector is a main player for food security which received full support by the government.
'The targeted rate of self sufficiency in the strategy required several steps including activating the existing farms by providing agricultural support, allocating QR75m annually to support the farms specially to the productive farms, said Al Marri.
He said that farms were divided into A, B and C categories according to the standards. 'Agricultural farms were provided greenhouses, technologies for rationalizing water consumption, seeds. Animals farms received
fodders, medicines, vaccines and salt. Fishermen received refrigerators, fuels and boxes for marketing, said Al Marri.
'Apart from the existing farms, fast track projects were launched for investors to increase the self sufficiency rate at certain level by 2023.
He said that parallel projects are based on modern technologies to produce in large quantity using less water.
'A total 11 projects were launched for producing vegetables which are being implemented and expected to begin production by the end of next year. Each project will supply 2,100 tonnes of vegetables to local market in a year, said Al Marri.
He said that the self sufficiency rate of local vegetables is targeted to increase from 34 percent currently to 70 percent by 2023 under the strategy.
'A total of 10 projects were launched for fattening sheep with the capacity of 5,000 sheep totalling 50,000 sheep in a year. Second phase project will be also launch if needed.
He said that table eggs projects launched in cooperation with Qatar Development Bank and private companies to increase the self-sufficiency in egg products from 34 percent to the targeted 70 percent.
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