(MENAFN- The Peninsula) sanaullah ataullah |
The Peninsula
Doha: The new food security strategy, expected to be launched next month, will focus on increasing agricultural output in the summer, by adopting advanced technologies and providing support to farmers as per their need, said a top official.
“Qatar National Food Security Strategy 2023-30 is expected to launch by the end of April,” said Director of the Food Security Department at the Ministry of Municipality, Dr. Masoud Jarallah Al Marri.
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Speaking to The Peninsula at the pavilion of the Ministry at the ongoing 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition (AgriteQ) 2023, Al Marri said:“Now we are developing new strategy following Qatar National Vision 2030.
He said that the new strategy is based on three axes - maintaining the achievements which were made during the previous strategy, completing the remaining goals of QNV2030 and ensure sustainability through conservation of natural resources.
“The first axis is local production which has been merged with marketing locally in new strategy under one axis because of their deep relation. The second axis is strategic reserve and early warning system,” said Al Marri.
He said that the third axis of the strategy is international trade and foreign investments with the support of Hassad Foods and local private sector.
“We took into consideration the challenges for agricultural production during summer season, especially for vegetables,” said Al Marri.
He said that the self-sufficiency rate of Qatar in food production reached to advanced level in fresh chicken, table eggs, red meat, fresh milk and fresh fish.
“Some products require more efforts to increase the production to the targeted level, like production of vegetables during summer.”
He said that the new strategy will focus on producing vegetables during summer by adopting modern farming techniques and providing agricultural support to farmers according to their needs.
“The support will be provided as per the need of farmers like inputs, building capacity and services to reduce the operational cost for farms,” said Al Marri. He said that this will enhance the production during summer to meet the target of 70 percent self-sufficiency of the country in vegetable production.
“Under the new strategy, the efforts will be intensified to coordinate with authorities concerned like the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for ensuring strategic reserve of food and diversifying the sources of import,” said Al Marri.
He said that National Food Security Strategy aims at ensuring food security in the country by making available quality foods at reasonable prices for all people in the country.
Qatar's self-sufficiency in vegetables increased from 20 percent in 2017 to 46 percent in 2022, however, the strategy targets to achieve 70 percent self-sufficiency.
Dr. Masoud Jarallah Al Marri Pic: Abdul Basit
Local fresh milk production rose from 28 percent of total demand in 2017 to 100 percent in 2022.
Self-sufficiency in meat production reached 20 percent out of 30 percent targeted by the strategy, as the consumer pattern of the country is 30 percent fresh meat and 70 percent frozen which is dependent on import.
The Ministry of Municipality, in coordination with private companies, had launched several projects for increasing livestock with a capacity of 5,000 animals from each project which will help greatly in meeting the target.
Self-sufficiency in fish production was recorded at 77 percent. The target is to increase the production to 95 percent. The first fish farming project was launched with a capacity of 2,000 tonnes of fish in a year.
Two more projects are in the pipeline which will be implemented after the success of the first project. The total production of three projects will be 6,000 tonnes a year. As many as 15,000 tonnes of fish are being produced from sea.