Image taken from Instagram / Torba Farmers Market.
Demand for organic and chemical-free food products continue to grow in Qatar and with this comes the greater need for more Qatar-based farms to grow their produce through organic farming, says Torba Market founder Fatma Al Khater.
Speaking to The Peninsula recently, Al Khater, a social entrepreneur who won the ‘Entrepreneurship Award’ of the Qatari Businesswomen Association’s (QBWA) first ever TAKREEM Awards this year, said: “There’s a definite niche for the organic market to grow here.
“People are looking for a connection for food in Qatar. They want to know how they can get local produce and they want to eat something that’s fresh. They’re becoming more conscious of their selection of local as opposed to international or local food. The number of organic farms in the country has been increasing and we definitely need more, because we see organic farming as the way to go”.
Based in the Education City, the Torba Market is a grass roots initiative where local fruit and vegetable growers and home businesses trade their organically-grown food and less-processed food products.
Al Khater said the market has grown from promoting eight farms since it started in 2017 to 15 farms this year. She added: “We have a lot of amazing farms in Doha that sell a range of different vegetables and fruits. And we always encourage them to participate with us.
“They have stalls for free to sell and promote their farms. Those farms participating with us have premium vegetables grown between organic and chemical-free practice. So they’re the best quality in the market”.
Al Khater’s vision for the Torba Market is to give back to the society by providing small and medium-sized businesses a platform to test their ideas. “Our principle is social entrepreneurship, so we try to have low profits to encourage other businesses as well to gain from whatever we’re doing.
“I put their businesses before me, and then we would spread an ecosystem of how to collaborate and have a win-win situation with the different businesses. The market is growing and I think there will definitely be more opportunities to leverage,” Al Khater added.
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has earlier said it pays great attention to organic agriculture for its high competitiveness in the Qatari market. Within the framework of public-private partnerships, the government has also issued licenses to establish four new greenhouse agricultural projects to produce 80,000 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables a year, with a production rate of 20,000 tonnes per year per project, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
In its recent report, the Middle East Credit Rating Agency’s (MERatings) Qatar Food & Beverages Sector Analysis 2019, has also said that demand for organic food products continues to soar with the growing number of high income consumers in the country.
The report said the Qatari consumer base characteristics include high income, young and urban-based, and a growing expatriate population. In the long run, rising income translates into higher demand for healthy eating options and premium goods. This will encourage consumptions of certain market segments such as organic food and diet food, the report added.
