(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Hassad Food, Qatar's premier investor in food & agribusiness sectors in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipality, has announced the launch of the agricultural services and inputs programme, with the aim of developing the local agricultural sector to help ensure food security.
In line with Hassad's investment strategy and the Ministry of Municipality's vision to develop the local agricultural sector, to contribute to achieving self-sufficiency - the programme focuses on developing agricultural practices and services to increase the agricultural season's duration, as well as reach the highest productivity per sqm.
Mahaseel for Marketing and Agricultural Services Company (a subsidiary of Hassad), implements and manages the agricultural services and inputs programme, alongside the agricultural outputs programme (marketing local produce), to support and meet the farmers needs through a unified platform, which provides integrated agricultural services.
This strategic programme launched by Hassad in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipality, targets all local farms, to provide them with the needed agricultural services and inputs, as well as cooperate with local farmers to develop the farm's infrastructure - to maximise subsidy value provided by the Ministry of Municipality.
The programme's plan covers three strategic sections: knowledge and skills development, farms infrastructure development, and supporting farmers in selecting the suitable agricultural inputs.
The plan for the first section“knowledge and skills development” covers, developing guidance programmes, in collaboration with the Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality, to provide the required technical advice with regards to understanding and managing soil characteristics, health, and fertility, as well as the best international practices for irrigation management and pest control.
With regards to the programme's second section“farms infrastructure development”, the plan includes the development of greenhouses, such as using non-cooled net greenhouses as a substitute for plastic tunnel greenhouse, given its ability to reduce the temperature and humidity as well as increase ventilation system purity within the greenhouse.
New water tanks and developing some of the existing tanks in a number of local farms is included in the plan, to maintain the quality of irrigation water and prevent contamination or algae formation, following desalination operations or extraction from wells.
The third section includes a plan to support farmers in selecting the suitable agricultural inputs, to ensure high quality produce – it is necessary to choose the suitable types of seeds for each season and soil type for farms, greenhouses and hydroponics.