Over 675 companies from 55 countries at AgriteQ 2023

The Ministry of Municipality Monday announced that 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition (AgriteQ) 2023 will be held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre from Wednesday until March 19, with the participation of more than 55 countries.
This came during a press conference held by the ministry to provide the details of the exhibition, which gains its importance from being a strategic platform to explore new horizons for the advancement of the Qatari agricultural sector, as the backbone of food security that comes at the forefront of the strategic priorities to achieve self-sufficiency.
In this context, chairman of the exhibition's organising committee and director of the Public Parks Department at the Ministry of Municipality, Mohamed Ali al-Khoury said the keenness of Qatar to organise the exhibition confirms the increasing interest of the country in the agricultural sector in recent years. This is done with the aim of achieving great progress in local production to increase self-sufficiency rates and achieve food security, especially after the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the interruption in supply chains around the world, which made achieving self-sufficiency a vital matter for various countries.
He added during the press conference that the exhibition is a direct gateway to accessing the latest global technological innovations that support the national trend towards expanding agricultural production to meet the local demand for food products, according to the objectives of the "comprehensive plan for food security".
The official informed that the 10th AgriteQ will see the participation of more than 675 companies from the agricultural, food and animal production sectors, spread over an area of 29,000sqm, and including 523 companies from outside Qatar.
More than 55 countries are participating in the exhibition, 30 of which are attending through official national pavilions and the others through companies, embassies and commercial offices in Doha. More than 10 entities from the private sector and government agencies are sponsoring the exhibition.
Al-Khoury pointed out to the success of the previous editions of the exhibition, which had a significant impact in terms of increasing self-sufficiency rates in vegetable, meat, fish, poultry and egg production.
For his part, deputy chairman of the organising committee and director of the Department of Agricultural Affairs at the ministry, Youssef Khaled al-Khulaifi, said Qatar has made remarkable achievements in the field of developing the agricultural sector, in light of the insightful vision and directives of the wise leadership, which has placed development of natural resources, in particular agriculture, at the top of the national priorities to achieve self-sufficiency and achieve food security. This comes with a focus on adopting innovative policies, strategies and technologies that help achieve environmental sustainability.
He indicated that Qatar works on promoting optimal investment in technology, research and development, and food control as basic pillars for raising the volume and quality of agricultural and animal production in safe and sustainable ways, in line with the objectives of the National Development Strategy of the State of Qatar, which aims to increase the proportion of local production of livestock to 30% and fish to 65%, in a step in support of Qatar National Vision 2030.
During the press conference, al-Khulaifi noted that the organisation of the exhibition comes within the continuous efforts of the Ministry of Municipality to support the agricultural sector in the country, in co-operation with Mahaseel, with the aim of enhancing the value of the local vegetable product.
In a related context, the AgriteQ organising committee announced the organisation of a scientific conference accompanying the exhibition, which will constitute a scientific, cultural and research platform aimed at exchanging information, experiences and scientific data specialised in food security, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, as well as discussing the impact of the environment and climate change on food security.
Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the exhibition, Dr Mohamed Saif al-Kuwari, said about 50 speakers will participate in the conference to present 50 scientific research papers over a period of five days, indicating that the number of attendees registered to date at the conference site has reached about 1,500 participants.
He reviewed the work programme of the scientific conference, and the first day will be devoted to initiatives, opportunities and projects in the agricultural sector around the world. The second day will be allocated for studies and research, and for reviewing scientific papers from the Ministry of Municipality, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, companies operating in the agricultural sector, and some scientists at national universities and research centres.
The third day of the conference will discuss home farming and the Gharsa initiative, while the fourth day will include workshops on raising awareness of food safety, and reviewing the National Food Security Strategy 2023-2030.
The fifth and final day will be devoted to agricultural technology and agricultural services, in addition to other topics that include innovation to confront climate change and environmental preservation.
The exhibition will host specialised display areas, which will present to the public its production of fresh vegetables and fruits, the honey and dates market, as well as holding daily cooking shows to prepare a wide range of traditional Qatari dishes using local products. (QNA)