Doha - Efforts are on to have an extensive and modern irrigation system in place in the country to boost agricultural production, senior officials from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture (MMAA), said yesterday.
Speaking at a function held at the City Centre to mark the World Food Day, Dr Hamad Saad Al Saad, director of agriculture and water research at the MMAA, disclosed that work was progressing as scheduled on installing a modern irrigation network.
And once the network is in place, local agricultural production would get a tremendous boost, said Al Saad. "The system is taking environmental aspects into consideration," he added.
Farmers are being provided subsidies aside from soft and easy loans as incentives to ensure that local production increases manifold. "Focus is on both quality and quantity," said the official.
A lot of investors are keen to pump funds, especially to ensure that the latest technologies are available in the agricultural sector to bolster production, said Abdullah Safr, director of agricultural development.
Currently, most of the requirements of olive oil, dates, vegetables and poultry products in the country are met locally. Qatar is self-sufficient in date production and even donates huge stocks to poorer countries in Africa and elsewhere. This was stated by Dr (Sheikh) Falah bin Nasser Al Thani, director of agricultural development at the MMAA. He said that on the World Food Day next year, focus will be on fisheries.
© The Peninsula 2007
