Hassad Food, an investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), with a primary focus on the field of agriculture, has enhanced its local vegetable production capacities considerably since the beginning of the blockade, a senior official said.
"Hassad Food has increased production by nearly one-third from the previous levels since the blockade on Qatar began in June 2017," business relations director Mubarak al-Sahouti told Gulf Times.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a round table on 'Food security for Qatar', organised by the Australian embassy on Tuesday.
"The production boost has been facilitated by the acquisition of more lands and enhancing the capacities of some of the local agricultural farms," the official explained.
Approximately 8,000 tonnes of vegetables are produced per year from Hassad Food's farms, mainly on the western and northern sides of Qatar.
"This has been possible mainly owing to the increase in the size of cultivated lands where our company has invested," said al-Sahouti.
As part of company's 'Alfa Alfa' programme aimed to increase the local fodder production, the company is also committed to effect a steep increase in the extent of the cultivated area.
It is expected that the fodder production would reach approximately 10,000 tons annually. Now, the total cultivated area of green fodder has reached 8mn sqm.
Similarly, there has been considerable rise in Hassad Food's dates production. Through a programme to support the country's farmers in co-ordination with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, now the company produces nearly 3,000 tons of dates, against 2,200 prior to the blockade.
The company official also informed that chicken production from the Arab Qatari Company for Poultry Production would reach almost 16mn units annually. The production of eggs from the company would touch approximately 120mn units.
Al-Sahouti also explained that Hassad has set up Mahaseel for Marketing & Agri-Services Company, to help the country's agricultural farms in the private sector attain self sufficiency. "With the establishment of this company, we hope to encourage local farmers increase both quantity and quality of their produce," he said while adding that the new company would also help farmers sell their produce in the local market.
