MME to increase self-sufficiency in vegetable output

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has taken steps to increase the rate of self-sufficiency in vegetable production, which currently stands at 24%, to 70% by presenting 10 projects for private investors to grow vegetables in greenhouses and produce about 21,000 tonnes annually through these projects, a senior ministry official has said.Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs at the MME, Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser al-Thani, also said the ministry will study 24 new strategic projects for the production of vegetables in greenhouses over an area of 100,000sq m per project to take the production capacity to more than 50,000 tonnes a year.He made the observations while speaking to the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the sidelines of the opening of the seventh Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition (AgriteQ) and first environmental exhibition at Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre yesterday.Stressing that agriculture is considered one of the most important sectors concerned with achieving food security in Qatar, he said the MME is also working to support date farms in order to enhance the self-sufficiency rate from 86% to around 90% this year.Sheikh Dr Faleh said the strategy of the agricultural, plant, animal and fish sector was based mainly on achieving food security through the main agricultural products while preserving the State’s natural resources, especially water, as it is one of the most important determinants of the agricultural sector.He informed that more than 40 papers would be presented on agriculture and that the signing of a number of agreements and contracts with companies, universities and scientific institutes would make the exhibition a good opportunity to build partnerships and achieve promising investment opportunities between the participating countries, QNA reported.In the field of green fodder, the official said four projects for the production of green fodder with treated sewage water were introduced in the first stage with an area of 8.5mn sq m to produce about 14,000 tonnes of green fodder. Six new projects will be launched in the field of green fodder to produce about 16,000 tonnes per year, with self-sufficiency rising from 55% to 63%.As for the livestock sector, Sheikh Dr Faleh noted in his statement to QNA that the ministry’s strategy is based on several axes, the most important of which is the development of livestock to contribute to food security, in addition to creating investment opportunities and increasing marketing opportunities for livestock breeders, providing bank loans as well as improving livestock production technology.He also informed about an initiative to buy local sheep from farms in co-operation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Ministry of Finance to boost the self-sufficiency ratio for red meat from 15% to 30%.The official told QNA that the ministry has achieved a significant increase in the production of fresh broiler chickens from 11,000 tonnes in 2017 to 22,000 tonnes annually, representing 100% self-sufficiency.As for table eggs, eight projects will be launched in local farms during the exhibition, in co-operation with Qatar Development Bank, to increase self-sufficiency from 28% to 70%.The ministry has also completed the establishment of the Animal Production Research Station in Al Sheehaniya, which is concerned with the development of research on animal production and artificial insemination technology in order to increase livestock production in Qatar.With regard to fisheries, he said the MME has taken a number of regulatory measures to preserve fish stocks, the most important of which is the suspension of licences of new fishing vessels.He said the ministry’s strategy in this regard focuses on the expansion of the fish farming process, where the second phase of a project involving fish culture in floating cages was launched with a production capacity of about 2,000 tonnes per year, bringing the total production in the first and second phases to 4,000 tonnes a year and increasing self-sufficiency in fish from 74% to 90%.Meanwhile, the ministry has established and operated a water research centre at Ras Matbakh, a research centre specialised in providing fishes for farms.Regarding fresh shrimp, Sheikh Dr Faleh said the ministry recently completed procedures for awarding an investment project for shrimp farming to a private national company, with a production capacity of about 1,000 tonnes per year to achieve 100% self-sufficiency. (QNA)