Qatar goes homegrown and organic

A year-long project in Qatar to develop organic produce at reasonable prices is finally bearing fruit, according to the country’s Ministry of Environment (MOE). Speaking to Al Sharq this week, the ministry’s head of agricultural affairs said that Qatar now has five organic farms in operation. The aim of the farms is to help make healthy eating options more affordable for Qatar residents – and help boost the nation’s food security.

Last year, a regional study found that Qatar residents have been buying more meat, fruit and organic foods, as the young, wealthy, urban – and increasingly obese – population attempts to shift their eating habits to a more healthier diet.

Co-owner of Al Safwa organic farms, Olfa Guetata, said that it supplies ingredients to the Diplomatic Club, Italian restaurant La Spiga at the W Hotel and the French Supermarket Monoprix.

Guetata added that whereas some imported vegetables retail for QR150/kg, her farm’s organic tomatoes cost QR37/kg, which is much “more reasonable.”

The MOE is also working on a a project to connect new irrigations systems to 250 farms, with the aim of rolling out the system to all of Qatar’s 1,340 local farms, Al Khulaifi said.

As a desert nation with little agricultural resources and a rapidly growing population, Qatar is largely reliant on imports to feed its residents.

Though officials have previously said Qatar imports 90 percent of its food, Khalifa Al Ansari, head of farmers’ affairs at the MOE, said earlier this month that thanks to increased domestic production, that figure has dropped to 85 percent.

Qatar aims to reach a target of growing 40 percent of its own food by 2024.

Source: dohanews.co