Wales Economy Minister H E Vaughan Gething Credit: Welsh Government website
Doha: Wales is interested in the future of agriculture and is keen to commence discussions with Qatar on how best land could be made use of and enhancing agricultural productivity said Wales Economy Minister H E Vaughan Gething speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the launch of the murals painted by two Welsh street artists in collaboration with Qatari artists and local young people at the Katara Cultural Village on Monday.
Wales is keen to support agriculture both in terms of animal welfare standards and productivity and also on arable produce. So definitely there is scope for discussion in this area which Wales will look forward to commence, the Minister said.
As Qatar has been a wealthy country for a long time concerns of a healthy diet has taken precedence and for that matter it has been a concern for Wales as well.
Wales has some learning experiences as to what a healthy diet means, the Minister said adding that both countries could look at increasing productivity, imports and exports and developing agriculture which Wales does in any part of the world.
The agricultural sector has expanded in recent years due to increased demand for food as a result of rapid population growth and state backed initiaitives which aims to boost food security in the country.
Qatar has been rated as a regional pioneer in the Global Food Security Index. The state has achieved 100 self-sufficiency in fresh poultry and dairy products.
The allocation of QR70m over the next five years by the government has helped the state which has made great strides in sustainable development and achieving self sufficiency.
The focus on smart farming thanks to the use of modern protected farming systems, smart technological tools has helped the state make a leapfrog progress in agricultural productivity.
The agriculture Ministry has distributed 2,436 green houses, 1,712 refrigerated houses, 100 houses dedicated to modern hydroponics and 100 rooms for drying dates to boost quality.
As for the animal husbandry sector there has been a productivity boom in recent years according to dada. The self sufficiency rate of milk and its products has grown from 28 percent in 2017 to 100 percent in 2022. Which is a quadrupled growth in the sector during the past five years.
Smart farming is a management concept focused on providing the agricultural industry with the infrastructure to leverage advanced technology – including big data, the cloud and the internet of things (IoT) – for tracking, monitoring, automating and analyzing operations. Also known as precision agriculture, smart farming is software-managed and sensor-monitored.
Smart farming is growing in importance due to the combination of the expanding global population, the increasing demand for higher crop yield, the need to use natural resources efficiently, the rising use and sophistication of information and communication technology and the increasing need for climate-smart agriculture.
