More locally produced vegetables to hit retail markets in coming weeks

The local produce of vegetables has started to hit the retail market across various shops, supermarkets and vegetable markets including Al Sailiya Central Market.Even though the amounts that have been on display recently are considered very limited, they have contributed in stabilising the prices of some varieties such as cucumber and tomatoes.Speaking to local Arabic daily Arrayah, some farm owners and farm managers stressed that most local farms would be ready to supply the local market with various types of vegetables within November, including eggplants, capsicum, zucchini, tomatoes, and various leafy vegetables. This was mainly achieved through expansion of using greenhouses and introducing sophisticated agriculture technology that enabled farmers to exploit more space in their farms that were difficult to use earlier.Eng Abdulrahman Ahmed al-Obaidan, stressed that the expected amount of production of his farm this year would hit around 2,000 tonnes of various vegetables, which is 500 tonnes more than last year production. He explained that farm uses smart agriculture methods to make the best use of its space and capabilities. He said that all the production would mainly be sold locally as export is not yet open for such products.Mohamed Ajlan al-Kaabi said that a few days ago the first crop of cucumber was harvested and over the next few weeks more crops would be collected such as capsicum, zucchini and tomatoes. He said that his farm have added around 20 new greenhouses to its assets over this year, which have considerably participated towards enhancing the production. He further pointed out that his farm has invested in planting strawberries inside eight greenhouses in addition to its distinguished products of bee honey.Ahmed al-Kuwari said that his farm has already started to sell its products at the local market since the start of October, especially products such as zucchini and cucumber. He noted that more products will be ready soon for harvest and would hit the market. The production of his farm is expected to amount to 1,000 tonnes of different vegetables this year while the production of last year amounted only to around 800 tonnes. This is mainly due to added piece of land that was exploited to expand the agriculture processes.