Qatar has benefited from the Gulf dispute over the last few years, as it altered several equations, the most significant of which was food security.
The country demonstrated its ability to achieve economic independence through plans for local production, import, diversification of sources.
It focused on strategic storage, implementing a series of measures to ensure that its people had access to high-quality food at an affordable price.
In terms of food security indicators, Qatar ranks first in the Arab world and 13th globally, according to the December 2019 World Food Security Index, which is based on three sub-indicators: consumer ability to bear the cost of food, food availability, and food safety.
Qatar’s National Food Security Strategy 2018-2023 is geared to achieve local food security, increasing the strategic stock of food commodities, and enlisting the private sector’s participation in this endeavor.
According to the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, the strategy is founded on four central pillars:
International Trade and Logistics
It entails ensuring the robustness of the strategy for supplying food commodities, as well as the state’s ability to withstand potential trade shocks and disturbances, in addition to swift action in the event of the loss of any trading partner or self-sufficiency, by diversifying the sources of importing necessary food commodities rather than relying on fixed sources. Additionally, proactive contingency plans for the public and private sectors are being developed to mitigate the impact of trade shocks or other external disruptions.
Indigenous Production
Qatar seeks to increase the self-sufficiency rate of indigenous agricultural products grown under the current conditions of water scarcity, poor soil quality, and products that are hard to store or import via air and are extremely expensive to transport.
The focus is on greenhouse vegetable cultivation with low water consumption and the adoption of new agricultural experiments based on the provision of water and electricity without the need for large amounts of agricultural land.
The local production axis of the country’s National Food Security Strategy focuses on increasing the production of fresh meat, poultry, and indigenous fish through various initiatives, including introducing strategic projects for the private sector to boost self-sufficiency rates.
In terms of poultry production, Qatar’s current output of chilled poultry meets 123 percent of self-sufficiency, while its current production of table eggs meets approximately 28 percent of consumption. In addition, local fish production has reached 74 percent self-sufficiency.
Strategic Reserving
This strategy involves establishing a sufficient and appropriate strategic stockpile to act as a buffer against temporary interruptions in import or production and protect against long-term shocks.
A large part of this work involves storing storable goods that are difficult to cultivate or produce in Qatar for a time of two weeks to six months, depending on the nature of the commodity, to meet the country’s population’s needs for those commodities.
Neighbor Markets
Its purpose is to increase transparency and efficiency throughout the food supply chain, ensuring that all parties adhere to fair trade practices, reduce supply chain waste, and improve food quality.
Detailed projects
This strategy includes 78 projects, 70 of which are about the production through vegetable production in greenhouses (34 projects), green feed production in the treated sewage (13 projects), fish production in floating cages in the sea (3 projects), and many more.
The Qatari national plan also includes six projects concerning internal food supply chains: a dates improvement project to distribute 100 drying rooms to local farms, two projects in the framework of the food waste reduction initiative, a farmers platform project, and a ‘null food waste’ platform. “‘
Two projects are underway about the strategic storage axis: the Hamad Port Strategic Storage project and the National Analysis for Food Security.
Success Stories
Baladna
In 2014, the “Baladna” farm was launched to guide Qatar’s efforts to achieve autonomy in cattle production and the dairy sector. In some years, 90 percent of the milk needs of Qatar from its farm, situated 55 km north of Doha, were supplied on the local markets.
Some 18,000 cows are fed by straw imported from Europe and the US, where they also cool off by a system made up of giant fans which spray nebula on the cows when moving between feeding stalls and milking.
Furthermore, “Baladna: shares were listed on the Doha Stock Exchange in 2019.
Qatar’s water reservoirs
Qatar entered the Guinness Book of Records for the largest drinking water reservoir in the world through the Great Strategic Water Reservoirs project.
The world’s most giant water tank volume exceeds 436,000 cubic meters or 96 million imperial gallons per day (MIPD). A gallon of water from the US qualified it to create a new world record, demonstrating the effectiveness of KAHRAMAA’s approach for increasing the country’s water security.
Qatar commissioned the project in December 2018, which is regarded as a breakthrough in the field of water storage since it is the country’s most enormous extension to date, with a total capacity of 1500 million gallons, covering storage demands until 2026, and a total cost of US$3.9bn.
KAHRAMAA aims to expand the project, bringing the total number of tanks to 40 with a capacity of roughly 4000 million gallons to meet the state’s water needs until 2036.
The project adds storage capacity larger than what has been established in Qatar in recent years, enhancing water security by creating a safe and balanced strategic stockpile that ensures the flow of water to all sectors and meets the country’s growing needs.
Oxford proves Qatar’s success
A report, “Oxford Business,” published in cooperation with the “Lulu Hyper” supermarket chain, showed Qatar’s successful efforts, from food production to retail.
“Food Security in Qatar” report mentioned that the country’s progress was based on agricultural technology solutions, Like the idea of vertical farming and hydroponic techniques. In addition, the report praised the role of the supermarket chain to achieve autonomy, which involves close cooperation with local farmers to ensure the continuous supply of high-quality local food products to all its domestic branches.
During the opening of the August 2021 national dialogue, Qatari Municipality and Environment Minister Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Subaie emphasized the importance of making his country more resilient to any disruptions to supply or price increase. He added that efforts were made to improve local production and create a strategic reservoir of essential commodities covering six months.