Your Health First reaps fruit of labour on ‘Harvest Day’

Your Health First held its first ‘Harvest Day’ event to celebrate bringing in a large crop of fresh fruits and vegetables grown in Qatar under the Khayr Qatarna initiative, which boosts self-sufficiency and encourages healthy eating.

Dignitaries from Qatar Foundation, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, ExxonMobil Qatar, and Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd were at the Harvest Day event at Amna bint Wahab Preparatory School for Girls to see students bringing in a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Harvests at nine other schools participating in Khayr Qatarna yielded plentiful crops of fruit and vegetables including strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, coloured peppers, red cabbage and green beans. All the crops have been granted the status of ‘Premium Products’ — an indication of their freshness and quality — by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

All of the produce has been grown in large-scale climate-controlled greenhouses installed at the schools by Your Health First as part of the Khayr Qatarna initiative, which was launched in 2018 to help make a positive contribution to Qatar’s self-sufficiency.  The initiative also teaches students valuable lessons about healthy eating, agriculture, environmental awareness, and sustainability issues.

Students are also learning about key business operations, such as logistics, commerce and economics, helping the younger generation gain the knowledge required to achieve the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030. Harvest Day will now be held every year to celebrate the bringing in of the crop.

Your Health First, which is the flagship public health campaign of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), initially installed large-scale greenhouses at three secondary schools as part of Khayr Qatarna’s pilot programme.

Khayr Qatarna has proven such a success that the project was expanded and there are now a total of 10 greenhouses in operation at 10 schools.  Khayr Qatarna itself grew out of Your Health First’s extremely popular Project Greenhouse initiative, which saw smaller greenhouses installed at over 130 elementary schools all over Qatar.

The fruit and vegetables grown in the greenhouses are distributed with Khayr Qatarna branding to the community through local supermarkets and also among the school students’ families and their communities. All proceeds from sales are reinvested in the project to allow for further expansion.

Fawzia Abdulaziz Al Khater, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, stressed that the initiative of Sahtak Awalan - Your Health First embodies the effective partnership between the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and state institutions.

Dr Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture Affairs & Fisheries Resources, said: “We are pleased to participate in the first Harvest Day of Khayr Qatarna in Qatari schools, which is a confirmation of the seriousness of the work of this project and its importance.”

Buthaina Ali Al Nuaimi, President, Pre-University Education, QF, said: “It is wonderful to see how much the Khayr Qatarna initiative has grown since it was launched last year. Food security is a key priority for Qatar, and we at Qatar Foundation are delighted to support this programme — along with other key local entities — and its aim of educating young people about the importance of self-sufficiency and healthy eating. Ultimately, this is a collective investment in a sustainable future for Qatar.”

“We are pleased to support our partner Your Health First’s Harvest Day — an exciting and fun event, which provides our youth with priceless learning experiences and promotes healthy eating,” said Alistair Routledge, President and General Manager for ExxonMobil Qatar.

Andrew H Kershaw, President and General Manager of Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd, said: “Oxy is honoured to support Khayr Qatarna and the wider Sahtak Awalan campaign. Not only are we encouraging our communities to eat healthier, but we are also providing our children with valuable lessons about agriculture and the environment and we are supporting Qatar toward sustainability.”

Nadya Mohd Sultan Larem, Principal at Amna bint Wahab Preparatory School for Girls said: “The Project Greenhouse initiative and its expansion into schools across Qatar has contributed to familiarizing students with the values of food self-sufficiency and independence in food production.”

Dr Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCM-Q, said: “Harvest Day is a remarkable moment, marking the culmination of a great deal of hard work and effort by all involved in growing the crops.