Hamad Port’s Strategic Food Security Facilities Terminal
Doha, Qatar: The National Food Security Strategy 2030 aims to store 11 food commodities in quantities sufficient for consumption in Qatar for two to eight months by improving and expanding the strategic reserve stock of essential commodities (yellow basket). The commodities include sugar, wheat, rice, and edible oil.
The strategy also aims to expand the strategic reserve stock of essential commodities for crises and disasters to store nine commodities (red basket) in quantities sufficient for three months of consumption.
A strategic stock of agricultural inputs will be created and maintained to store 13 types of agricultural inputs sufficient for two to eight months.
As per the strategy, an integrated food security alert system will be established to respond to the alert within 48 hours.
The second pillar of the strategy - strategic reserve and early warning systems - aims to enhance the resilience of the local food system by improving and expanding the strategic stock of food commodities, establishing and managing the strategic stock of agricultural inputs to ensure the continuity of local production in emergency situations, and developing central warning systems to monitor risks and improve response and decision-making mechanisms.
Run by the Ministry of Municipality, the National Food Security Strategy 2030 is a roadmap for achieving sustainable food security and ensuring uninterrupted food supplies amid global challenges.
This is in addition to expanding the capabilities of Hamad Port’s storage facilities to become a regional hub for food trade and manufacturing through commercial partnerships and strategic investments, to ensure the safe and sustainable availability of food and reduce the risks associated with reliance on limited resources.
Qatar has enhanced its storage capabilities by implementing a project to construct food security buildings and warehouses at Hamad Port, covering an area of more than half a million square metres. The project includes storage silos and specialised manufacturing, processing, and refining facilities for rice, raw sugar and edible oil.
The Strategic Food Security Facilities (SFSF) at Hamad Port, designed to provide substantial storage for rice, sugar, and edible oil sufficient to support three million individuals for two years, are set to commence operations shortly.
The SFSF aligns with the Qatar National Food Security Strategy and will play a vital role in enhancing the State’s reserve capabilities, as well as securing, strengthening, and developing the strategic stock system for food, consumer, and catering goods.
The strategy aims to raise the level of self-sufficiency and expand local production of agricultural and food commodities and products in which the country has a comparative advantage, and to establish a strategic stock of basic agricultural and food commodities that are not grown and produced locally and that can be stored for long periods.
The national strategy is based on several basic pillars, namely: developing and increasing local production of fresh goods, optimal utilisation of natural resources; diversifying food import sources to avoid exposure to any potential risks that may arise in crises and emergencies; and establishing a strategic stockpile of food commodities in the country.
