Doha, Qatar: Greenhouses provided by the Ministry of Municipality to farmers have helped ensure agricultural production during summer, said an official.
“Under an initiative, greenhouses are being distributed to farmers free of charge based on their classifications,” said Head of Agricultural Guidance and Services Section at the Department of Agricultural Affairs, Ministry of Municipality, Ahmed Salem Al Yafei.
Speaking to Al Rayyan TV recently, he said the Agricultural Affairs Department is running a number of initiatives to increase agricultural production and extend the agricultural season.
“As per the plan, the Agricultural Affairs Department will provide greenhouses to every productive farm. The farms have been classified as A, B and C according to the efficiency and production capacity,” said Al Yafei.
He said greenhouses are being set up under the supervision of the Agricultural Affairs Department. “The beneficiary farms also receive agricultural inputs. The main benefit of the initiative of greenhouse is that it extends the agricultural season by continuing the production during summer.”
“Farms stop production during summer in Qatar but those who have greenhouses can produce vegetables in those days also,” said Al Yafei, adding that greenhouse also produce agricultural produce of better quality compared to the farms.
“Other initiatives of the Ministry of Municipality include distribution of agricultural inputs, fertilisers and irrigation networks to farmers,” said Al Yafei.
He said the department also provides guidance services to farmers about efficient farming.
“Other initiatives are improving the quality and quantity of agricultural produce and providing marketing platforms. There is an initiative about reducing the consumption of groundwater in producing green fodder,” said Al Yafei.
According to a report by the Ministry of Municipality, 58 percent of the work to supply and install greenhouses has been completed, which is part of the project to distribute about 3,478 greenhouses to local farms.
To boost agricultural production, greenhouses have been provided in an area of 666 hectares of arable land.
The Ministry of Municipality plans to reform the agricultural sector by providing new tools and techniques to farmers for reducing their production costs, enabling them to compete with imported produce.
The plan is to help local farms adopt more water-efficient farming system to address the problem of water shortage, which is one of the major challenges.
