Despite the ongoing blockade, fresh food items continue to flood shops
One of the biggest concerns in the early days of the illegal blockade of Qatar was about the availability of food, especially fresh vegetables and fruits.
However, truth is that except for the first day or two, there really was no rush in the markets. Food products arriving from Iran and Turkey really helped put people at ease.
Local farms and companies also stepped up their game, ensuring a steady supply of food materials. Exactly a month into the Saudi-led blockade, fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms and abroad continued to flood supermarkets and outlets in Qatar, reported Gulf Times.
The fresh food items, including milk and dairy products, arrive from countries in different regions like the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Australia, providing residents with an array of choices at reasonable prices.
The representative of a leading supermarket in Qatar said cargo planes were flying tonnes of fresh produce almost every day from countries like India, Iran, and Turkey.
“We’ve enough for residents and the growing demand for locally-produced vegetables also prompt local farms to produce more. There’s also a plan to bring fresh milk from India,” he said.
While supermarkets offer a variety of vegetables such as green beans, capsicum, and cucumber from Iran, flat beans, red chili, and canary melon come from Turkey.
Pumpkin and bottle gourd come from Oman while spices like garlic, turmeric, ginger, and onions are imported from India. Bangladesh supplies string beans, round egg plant, and papaya.
Fruits like apple, orange, banana, mango, plum, avocado, pear, and pineapple come from Kenya, Uganda, Brasil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Holland, India and the Philippines.
Locally-produced and organic vegetables, mostly cucumber, tomatoes, eggplant, lemons, and mushrooms, are also available in nearly all supermarkets.
There has been a growing demand of locally produced food, with their demand set to grow even after the end of the blockade.
supplies are there but the prices are soaring as well. Qatar maybe okay for now but sooner or later, if the blockade continues, even services offered here in Qatar will soar high. and expats will be the no.1 affected by this in my opinion. hopefully the blockade will end.