Doha: In 2020-21, the agricultural sector of Qatar has achieved clear steps towards achieving food security, increasing agricultural production and the self-sufficiency rate of agricultural products.
The local production of vegetables jumped from about 66,000 tonnes, a 24 percent self-sufficiency rate, in 2018 to about 103,000 tonnes, a 41 percent self-sufficiency rate, noting that the target self-sufficiency rate in 2023 is 70 percent of local vegetables.
This came in a statement issued by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment on the occasion the World Food Day, which falls on October 16 of each year to commemorate the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945.
Under the theme ‘Grow, nourish, sustain. Together. Our actions are our future’, the 2021 World Food Day aims to raise awareness of the need to support the transition to more efficient, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient agricultural and food systems for better production, nutrition, environment, and life. Director of the Food Security Department Dr. Masoud Jarallah Al Marri, who is also Secretary of the National Food Security Committee, said that the National Food Security Strategy in Qatar (2018-23) aims to achieve an abundance of food through local production, strategic storage, and securing import sources and that food prices are appropriate and accessible to all. He added that the strategy also seeks to provide food of good quality and healthy in compliance with the provisions of Sharia.
To achieve these goals, the National Food Security Strategy in Qatar (2018-23) is based on five main pillars: international trade and logistics, local self-sufficiency, strategic stocks, local markets and supply chains, and research and development.
The self-sufficiency rate in dates has increased to 86 percent, as the production volume reached about 30,000 tonnes compared to about 28,000 tonnes in 2018, and it is expected to reach 95 percent by 2023. The volume of local production of green fodder increased from 100,000 tonnes, a 45 percent self-sufficiency rate, in 2018 to 115,000 tonnes, a 54 percent self-sufficiency rate.
The volume of production of milk and its products maintained the same levels in 2020, as the State of Qatar achieved complete self-sufficiency in milk and its products, a 106 percent self-sufficiency rate, with a production volume of 230,000 tonnes.
In local production of fresh chicken, the state has maintained the production volume at the same levels, achieving full self-sufficiency in fresh poultry with 28,000 tonnes production volume, a 128 percent self-sufficiency rate.
For red meat, the volume of production increased to 12,500 tonnes, achieving a 24 percent self-sufficiency rate compared to about 8,000 tons, a 16 percent self-sufficiency rate in 2018, noting that the target self-sufficiency rate in 2023 is 30 percent of local production of red meat.
The volume of local production of table eggs also increased to 11,000 tonnes, achieving a 35 percent self-sufficiency rate, compared to about 6,000 tonnes, a 20 percent self-sufficiency rate in 2018. It is expected to reach a 70 percent self-sufficiency rate of table eggs by 2023.
The volume of fresh fish production has been maintained at the same levels during 2019 and 2020 due to the stabilisation of the local fishing to preserve the fish stocks in the State of Qatar. It is expected to reach a 90 percent self-sufficiency rate of local fresh fish by 2023 through the contribution of fish farming projects to increase the local production in the country.
Regarding food security projects, many agricultural projects have been proposed to private investors, including offering ten projects for the production of vegetables in greenhouses with an annual production capacity of 21,000 tonnes for the ten projects, two projects for the production of organic fertilisers with the total yearly production capacity of about 12,000 tonnes per year, two projects for the production of concentrated feed with an annual production capacity of about 50,000 tonnes per year for both of them, and a project for fish farming in floating cages with an annual production capacity of about 2,000 tonnes, and another for shrimp farming with an annual production capacity of about 1,000 tonnes per year.
