HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Engineer Abdulla bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaie, has stressed the important role played by local agricultural production in the country's food security programme.
In a statement after the opening of Al Shihaniya Agricultural Products Park, the minister referred to the efforts to raise the efficiency of Qatari agricultural production and improve it in terms of quality through technology transfer and smart agriculture, which helps in the reducing water consumption.
He said that the ministry will discuss the issue with Qatari farmers.
Al Shihaniya Agricultural Products Park is a new outlet for the marketing of local agricultural products. There are similar parks in Al Mazrouah, Al Khor, Al Thakhira, Al Wakrah, Al Shamal and Katara.
HE al-Subaie reviewed the ministry's efforts in improving the quality of agricultural production, supporting Qatari producce, reducing marketing costs, encouraging farmers and the private sector to increase and upgrade production, and providing assistance to them.
He pointed out that this includes several services such as agricultural guidance and greenhouses.
HE al-Subaie added that the Ministry of Municipality and Environment intends to distribute 3,500 greenhouses to farmers during the coming four years.
He pointed out that the ministry is seeking to increase the number of farms from 200 to 400 over the next three years.
The services provided by the ministry include the establishment of agricultural production parks in which 124 Qatari farms are participating, all of which contribute to the marketing of about 30% of the country's agricultural production, pointing out the existence of new marketing programmes that will be announced later, including a company for the marketing of crops and access to the consumer, which will be become operational by the middle of this year.
The minister said that the environment ministry will organise the 7th edition of the Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition (Agriteq) from March 19 to 22 at Doha International Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser al-Thani said that the agricultural product parks cover large part of the production, especially as they are distributed geographically in different parts of the country, adding that the number of farms is increasing year after year, which is encouraging the establishment of some industries associated with products that exceed the local need.
Sheikh Faleh said that 10 new investment farms have been completed and are expected to start production by the end of this year. In this regard he referred to planned co-operation with a Japanese company specialised in the field of smart agriculture, which contributes to the durable production, with a very low consumption of water and energy.
