Recently, Adel al-Yafei, Assistant Director of the Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality, stated that Qatar’s self-sufficiency rate of vegetables reached 46% in 2023. It stood at 10% in 2017.
The ministry runs two programmes for agricultural services and marketing services. These are to help farmers increase production and proper marketing of local products.
The Agricultural Services and Inputs Programme aims to develop the local agricultural sector and to achieve food security in the country. This comes as part of Hassad's investment strategy and the ministry’s vision to develop the local agricultural sector and achieve self-sufficiency. The programme targets local farms to provide them with the needed agricultural services and inputs, as well as co-operate with the local farmers to develop the farms' infrastructure to maximise the subsidy value provided by the ministry.
The focus lay on basic vegetables such as courgette, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and green leaves, but other products are in the mix as well. The ministry official stated: “During the peak period of farming, from the beginning of January to the end of April, these crops may achieve a sufficiency rate from 90% to 100%.”
Source: gulf-times.com