File photo: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
Doha: Mahaseel outlets in the country selling local products have jumped to 95 in the current season, from 44 in the previous season.
“This is evidence of the company’s success in expanding its marketing base, and the farmers’ desire to buy their products and their quality as well, as the company is keen on the quality of products so that the products remain competitive,” said Mahaseel’s General Manager Mohamed Al Ghaithani, while speaking to Qatar Radio yesterday.
Al Ghaithani said the biggest challenge for the company is to inform the consumer of the value of the local product and its value compared to the imported product.
“At Mahaseel, we are keen on marketing products that have good specifications only. The local product is distinguished as it reaches the marketing places in less than 24 hours and therefore is fresh, while the imported products take a longer time of about four days. So we encourage spreading the culture of buying the local product,” he said.
He said the company succeeded in marketing 3.5 million kilogrammes of locally-produced vegetables in the Qatari market, during January 2021. This is triple the amount marketed during the same period last year.
“The reason for the company’s success in marketing its products is the increase in farmers’ confidence in the marketing services provided by the company, because of the transparency in dealing and the speed of payment of their dues within a period not exceeding one to two weeks,” he added.
Currently, Mahaseel supplies more than 30 varieties of vegetables to the local market. Moreover, 350 local farms are currently registered with Mahaseel to benefit from the marketing and agricultural services.
Al Ghaithani added that there is a dedicated team in the company for communicating with farmers, and following up their suggestions and taking them into account in order to improve the services provided by the company to them. This has created trust between farmers and the company, which in turn has increased the number of farmers and suppliers to the company compared to last year.
