Qatar has an emerging agricultural sector, which demonstrates significant promise for extensive production in the region, the Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA Qatar) has said.
In its newsletter for Q3 2023, IPA Qatar stated that accessibility to capital, government initiatives, resilient transport and logistics, growing demand, and support systems have played a key role in the development of this sector.
The IPA Qatar newsletter stated that the Qatar Development Bank’s (QDB) 16 industrial facilities for the food and beverage (F&B) sector under its ‘Jahiz 2’ initiative were essential in providing access to capital. Other factors that contributed to the development of the agricultural sector in Qatar include low tariffs for productive farms, including electricity tariffs of 0.07/kWh and water tariffs of 5.2/m³; more than 50 establishments and partnerships with leading technology companies and research and development (R&D) centers through Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP); and the capacity to increase production as 51,354 hectares of cultivatable land remains uncultivated.
Government initiatives like the Qatar National Food Security Strategy aim to increase vegetable production to reach 70% self-sufficiency in greenhouse vegetables by 2023, the newsletter also reported.
Other initiatives also include the joint Food Security Project between the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and the Ministry of Municipality and Environments (MME) for the development of sustainable food systems in Qatar, as well as the partnerships between Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZ) and the MME for the creation of investment opportunities in the field of agritech.
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