Qatar plans to cut dependence on food imports
Authorities involved with an ambitious project in Qatar, the Sahara Forest Project, said they were determined to contribute to plans undertaken by the government and Qatari organisations to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on food imports.
Qatar, like other member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), relies heavily on importing food to meet the needs of growing populations.
Officials overseeing the project said they would be capable of building mega plants to generate power, extract fertiliser and desalinate water within three years, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
The project’s CEO Joachim Hauge said it is based on the concept of setting up greenhouses which use seawater to provide cold and wet conditions for growing vegetables and fruit. “We hope that we can contribute to the plans undertaken by the government and national organisations such as the Qatar National Food Security Programme, and others,” he said in comments on Qatar’s ability to secure its future needs with the project.
“Of course we have great ambitions to reduce reliance on imported food.”
According to Hauge, increasing food production by 70 per cent by the year 2070 will be a major challenge for humanity and organisations are “working tirelessly to meet the challenges in the future”.
Speaking to QNA, Hauge drew attention to environmental challenges too. “There is a need for an approach to handle the interlaced challenges,” he said.
Insha Allah let see!
I thought you were able to get Qatar grown salads before, tomatoes etc? Personally I find the fruit and vegetables grown in the area a lot tastier than the ones that have been chilled and flown in from Europe. Also a fraction of the price. Maybe the margins are too low to make enough of a profit for businessmen unlike some other enterprises and hard work.
This could be way off in the future
Sadly, these are projects that are doomed to failure. The set-up and technology costs make it nigh on impossible to produce food at reasonable prices. this means that for them to succeed, the government has to subsidize heavily.. thus defeating the objective.
Just go on with the plan..and well see.
How many of us would truly trust food produced in Qatar? It's not like the press is free enough to report outbreaks of food-related disease now. Do you really trust the press and government agencies to accurately inform the public of food production safety issues or problems with pesticides, etc.?
And the price of chicken too. It is 15 Riyals a Kilo?
I think we're already seeing the result of such attempts regarding chicken--hence no chickens in the grocery stores.