Qatar /Handbook

Agriculture and Fisheries

The climate of the State of Qatar constitutes challenges in developing large-scale agricultural and fisheries project, although these are among the important economic sectors that help in ecuring the State's future in terms of sustainability.

Agriculture

Qatar's small but vital agricultural sector is made possible by modern greenhouses and irrigation systems. The Government has supported a number of initiatives, such as:

• An agricultural census project.
• The installation of several irrigation and water monitoring systems.
• The implementation of an Agricultural Science program at Qatar University (QU).

Government entities and joint ventures with the private sector provide a number of services for famers. These include:

• Research and development: Government-run experimental farms help breed crops suited to the local environment, and assist in the development of new fertilizers and irrigation systems.
• Marketing: the National Agricultural Marketing Company facilitates the packaging, distribution and export of agricultural products.

Products of greenhouses in the State of Qatar include cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. Some traditional open-field farms yield onions, potatoes, carrots and other vegetables. Some farms also produce poultry, dairy products and honey.

Fisheries

The number of commercial fishermen in Qatar has been steadily rising since 1995. Most operations are small-scale and focus primarily on the domestic market, though some fish are exported to neighboring countries, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Emperor bream, grouper, mackerel and grunt are the most commonly fished species. The Department of Fish Resources has banned dredging and other unsustainable fishing practices.

No significant commercial fish farming occurs in Qatar. Nevertheless, QU is setting up a number of experimental facilities.