Supply of vegetables up at marketing yards

Sincethe launch of the Premium Qatari Vegetables programme of the departmentof the agricultural affairs at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce inDecember 2016, there has been a 10-fold growth in the availability oflocal vegetables in the marketing yards.While the local availabilitywas only about 24,500kg at the inception of the programme 15 monthsago, it has increased to the levels of 270,000kg in the last threemonths, according to figures released by the ministerial authorities.While173,000kg of local vegetables reached the marketing yards in November2017, the availability exceeded 250,000kg in the last three monthsrunning.In December, it was 270,000kg and in January theavailability hit the peak touching 285,000kg. In February, the yardsreceived 260,000kg.Only in August and September, the availability was a little low, at 15,000kg 7,500kg, it has been pointed out.Thedepartment also informed that there was a spectacular growth in theavailability of tomatoes between 2016-17 and 2017-18. While 253 tonnesof local tomatoes were available for sale at the yards, the figureexceeded 475 tonnes until February 2018. With three more months to go,the growth is expected to be more than 100%.Similarly, in the lastfour years more than 20,000kg of honey were produced by localbeekeepers. While 3,925kg were collected in 2014, the figure touched6,355kg last year.At the AgriteQ, a large number of varieties and brands of honey are sold at pavilions of the local farmers.