Doha: The livestock sector has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the country thanks to the Strategic Food Security Projects 2019-23 which aim at increasing self-sufficiency rate of fresh local products to a certain level.
The sector which made Qatar self-sufficient in fresh milk in a record time witnessed huge growth in the production of animals in the country.
According to the latest figures given by the Livestock Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) on its Twitter account, the number of animals including camels, sheep, cow and goats reached a total of 1,707,547. However, 1.2 million livestock was recorded in the national register of livestock for farmed animals for economic purpose by the end of August 2016.
The latest figures suggest that number of camels in the country reached 131,080. The sheep accounted the highest 1,094,217, followed by goats 441,279. The number of cows reached 40,971.
The livestock register also recorded 17,866 farmers for animals operating across the country.
The first annual report of national strategy for food security issued in 2019 by the committee for following up the food security policies in public and private sector suggested 20 percent growth in fresh milk production (230,000 tonnes) which increased self-sufficiency rate in dairy to 106 percent in the country in 2019.
The fresh milk production in 2018 was recorded 200,000 tonnes which accounted 88 percent self-sufficiency of the country in dairy. The local production of red meat in 2019 reached 9,000 tonnes with 13 percent growth, taking self-sufficiency rate of the country to 18 percent.
The national strategy aims to raise self-sufficiency rate of the country in red meat to 30 percent by 2023. Under the strategy a number of new projects were launched and upgraded the existing livestock farms to meet the target.
Two projects for producing camel milk with the capacity of 2,000 tonnes milk in a year were launched under the Strategic Food Security Projects 2019-23.
To supply quality fodders to local livestock farms to increase the production, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in cooperation with other partners launched four project with the capacity of 17,000 tonnes green fodders in a year.
The Livestock Affairs Department upgraded the veterinary clinics, opened a number of clinics at new places and dispatched mobile clinics offering high quality veterinary services to livestock farms across the country.
To boost the livestock sector, the Livestock Affairs Department launched five year plan to protect the animals from epidemics and infectious diseases.
The Department also launched a project to upgrade the system of numbering the animals and early warning to control the epidemics from spreading in animals.
