Government reaffirms support for farms to boost production

Minister of Municipality and Environment (MME), H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie said yesterday that the Ministry is keen to provide full support to productive agriculture, animal and fish farms to increase their production.

The Minister was speaking with a group of owners of local farms, where he was briefed on the obstacles and difficulties in increasing agricultural production.

The Minister lauded the important and effective role played by the owners of farms in the past by increasing agricultural production and raising self-sufficiency in local production of several agricultural commodities.

H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz said that Qatar gives great importance to the agriculture sector because of its role in achieving food security. Helped by the various initiatives taken by the Ministry and proactive role of the private sector, the self sufficiency in food production of Qatar has increased significantly.

According to the data of MME, Qatari market has reached attained self sufficiency in some product categories such as poultry, fresh milk and shrimp. Country’s self sufficiency in poultry has reached 124 percent while it is 105 percent in case of fresh milk production. The production of shrimp in the country is now able to meet the local demand fully.

H E the Minister of Municipality and Environment noted the importance of agricultural marketing to improve the quality of agricultural production, and the role of the Ministry in supporting farmers through opening winter vegetable markets for marketing local agricultural products.

The Minister called on farmers to adopt modern techniques of farming to conserve water and overcome the obstacles related to soil salinity, high temperature and so on.

The Assistant Undersecretary of Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani had said earlier that the country achieved high levels of self-sufficiency in some agricultural and animal products and country’s food security strategy is proceeding successfully.

The Ministry is preparing to announce an initiative for egg production during the next agricultural exhibition. The initiative will help in meeting over 70 percent of the local market demand for eggs.

The Assistant Undersecretary confirmed that all agricultural commodities targeted in the food security strategy will be fully covered within a few years.

MME plans to introduce advanced LED farming technology in Qatar which will bring radical changes in agriculture sector as the technology will help improve the quality and quantity of products.

The new technology is also called closed-door-farming where LED lighting is used in place of sunlight and air-conditioner is used instead of natural ventilation to solve the problem of hot weather during summer.

اجتمع سعادة المهندس عبدالله بن عبدالعزيز بن تركي السبيعي وزير البلدية والبيئة، بمقر الوزارة أمس الخميس، مع مجموعة من أصحاب المزارع المحلية المنتجة، للاطلاع على المعوقات والصعوبات التي تواجه زيادة الإنتاج الزراعي والعمل على تذليلها.

في بداية الاجتماع، نوّه سعادة الوزير بالاهتمام الكبير التي توليه دولة قطر للقطاع الزراعي القطري، باعتباره القطاع المنوط به تحقيق الأمن الغذائي، مثمناً الدور المهم والفعال الذي قام به أصحاب المزارع خلال الفترة الماضية في زيادة الإنتاج الزراعي، ورفع نسب الاكتفاء الذاتي من السلع الزراعية المختلفة.

وأكد سعادته على حرص وزارة البلدية والبيئة على تقديم كل أوجه الدعم لأصحاب المزارع المنتجة في المجالات النباتية والحيوانية والسمكية، لتطوير المزارع؛ بما يساهم في زيادة المنتجات الزراعية المحلية، منوهاً بأهمية التسويق الزراعي من أجل تحسين جودة الإنتاج الزراعي، ودور الوزارة في دعم المزارعين، من خلال افتتاح ساحات لبيع المنتجات الزراعية المحلية دون تحملهم أية أعباء مالية.

ودعا سعادة الوزير أصحاب المزارع إلى اتباع الأساليب الحديثة في الزراعة، للمحافظة على المياه، والتغلب على المعوقات المتعلقة بملوحة التربة، وارتفاع درجات الحرارة وغيرها.