The new food security strategy, expected to be launched next month, will focus on increasing agricultural output in the summer, by adopting advanced technologies and providing support to farmers as per their need, said a top official.
Qatar’s self-sufficiency in vegetables increased from 20 percent in 2017 to 46 percent in 2022, however, the strategy targets to achieve 70 percent self-sufficiency.
Local fresh milk production rose from 28 percent of total demand in 2017 to 100 percent in 2022.
Self-sufficiency in meat production reached 20 percent out of 30 percent targeted by the strategy, as the consumer pattern of the country is 30 percent fresh meat and 70 percent frozen which is dependent on import.
The Ministry of Municipality, in coordination with private companies, had launched several projects for increasing livestock with a capacity of 5,000 animals from each project which will help greatly in meeting the target.
Self-sufficiency in fish production was recorded at 77 percent. The target is to increase the production to 95 percent. The first fish farming project was launched with a capacity of 2,000 tonnes of fish in a year.
Two more projects are in the pipeline which will be implemented after the success of the first project. The total production of three projects will be 6,000 tonnes a year. As many as 15,000 tonnes of fish are being produced from sea.
