A shaded farm in Qatar.
With adequate support of Qatar Development Bank (QDB), the local farmers have increased vegetable production capacity of their farms significantly and are expecting to harvest double the quantity in the upcoming season. The farmers said that they added new greenhouses at their farms and acquired more free spaces of arable land to boost production.
Farmers lined up at the QDB to get finances for their agricultural projects. “A big number of farm owners are visiting the QDB seeking the bank’s services like feasibility studies for projects and providing necessary funds etc.,” said Ali Al Mohannadi, Manager for Agriculture and Fisheries at QDB.
“Two types of projects – agricultural and livestock breeding - are being implemented at the farms,” said Al Mohannadi, while speaking in a Qatar TV talk show recently.
Al Mohannadi said that QDB provides funds to farm owners for their projects and the bank did not leave any stone unturned in financing the projects.
“The QDB also offers other services to the farmers like consultancy and holding exhibition for promoting their products,” he added.
Farms are struggling to increase their production significantly for the upcoming season. “We expect about 30 percent more production during the forthcoming season as compared to the last year,” said Ali Ahmad Saad Mansour Al Kaabi, owner of the Global Farm for Agricultural Supplies.
Al Kaabi said that the company had established hundreds of greenhouses under seven projects during the past four months of blockade. “Most of the projects, five projects were financed by QDB and the remaining two were funded by the company,” said Al Kaabi, adding that the projects had air-conditioned facilities, regular shades and irrigation system.
“All farmers are working to increase the productions of their farms. We acquired more free space of arable land at our farm,” said Ahmed Al Khalaf, a prominent Qatari businessman and owner of an agricultural farm.
“We have set up new greenhouses to enhance the seasonal production. I expect that the harvest of agricultural produce will increase manifold during the forthcoming season compared to the last year,” said Al Khalaf.
The farmers also appreciated the support of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to the local farms.
The Ministry allots arable land to farms and facilitates them in getting water for irrigation, agricultural inputs and fertilizers, a farmer told The Peninsula. “The Ministry provided various platforms to farmers to market their products like winter vegetable markets and contracts with major commercial outlets which buy the products directly,” said the farmer. “With the support of the Ministry, the farmers got fair prices for their products in the last agricultural season,” he concluded.
