Ministry of Environment should support local agriculture Wednesday, 17 November 2010 01:41

My generation and I are children of Qatari cities. Although we were born in the capital, we cherish the cities in which our fathers and forefathers were born as these places carry the history of our families. If that is how we feel about those towns, imagine how those who were born and grew up in those areas before moving to Doha. Surely, they must be longing for the places of their childhood memories and the areas of land they own, especially the skilled farmers that were able to virtuously transform the desert land into beautiful farms whose trees extend their branches across the length of their fields, protecting against the wind, and providing rich minerals to the soil for vegetables and fruits, with the support of irrigating water wells.

There are villages in Qatar’s north that are almost paralysed after the emigration of inhabitants to the capital, Doha, where jobs and city life drew them in by the hordes. Yet some of the village’s original inhabitants are still bound to farms they established in those territories, which are the places they built their families. However, these types of farms require permits, registration, and legitimate recognition from the responsible parties in order to gain access to agricultural incentive programmes such as that provided by Qatar Development Bank. The Bank provides loans to private farm owners in the amount of QR1m to be paid in monthly installments for up to eight years with the exception of the first six months of the loan.

The Department of Agriculture in the Ministry of the Environment has provided services to private farm owners including setting up programmes assessing the performance of their work, providing information and training courses so they may rely on modern production methods and mechanisms for packaging and marketing their products at fair prices. The Ministry instituted these programmes with the aim of gearing the country toward self-sufficiency in agriculture, poultry, livestock, and eggs.

This framework, which the state is undergoing to support the goal of national food security, includes soil, water, technology, material support, and expertise, is responsible for attracting all national agricultural human capital who already possess farms that are registered or filed in the country, but for some reason are not numbered and are faced with challenges from acceding to the rest of the national farms. Any serious national agriculture investors deserve the right for the Ministry to provide remedies overcoming obstacles in gaining access to resources provided at the industry.

How many productive farms exist in Qatar? How many have benefited from the Ministry of Environment’s programme? How many have obtained a loan from QDB? What is the justification for the withdrawal of some farms from their owners? Even if they were used by families for personal leisure, they invested and pumped life into the deserts and abandoned villages, and gave the land character through colorful vegetables and civilian life.

We have these vast territories in northern cities and villages abandoned by their indigenous inhabitants, where the area is characterised by heavy rainfall in the winter and is therefore suitable for agriculture, livestock, and poultry. Since some people harbour enthusiasm to re-invigorate the area, re-live the glories of the past, and contribute to the gross national product, they should not only have access but be encouraged and given incentives to do so.

Arable land in Qatar is about 650,000 acres, while the area of land already farmed equals 100,000 acres. Since the focus of the Ministry of Environment is on productive farms that provide for the local market’s agricultural needs, it should not ignore the contribution of family farms that provide their owners and those around them with vegetables, fruits, livestock, and their benefits as they contribute to environmental conservation, reconstruction of the land, and breathing life back into the land.

Owners of productive, private farms face harsh natural elements, water scarcity, soil salinity, lack of manpower specialised in agriculture, and a trend towards the construction of greenhouses where natural factors can be controlled for the cultivation of crops in the off-season. They sustain continuous losses and are financially drained in extending material from the city to those remote villages. They endure the death of their animals, difficulties of reclaiming and preparing land, and upgrading to modern irrigation methods.

The camping season has begun, which translates the love of the Qatari people for nature. The state is responsible to cultivate this innate passion and develop it, thus paving the way for those who already possess farms and are unable to promote it, and remove obstacles to ease licensing and recognition of ownership. As long as people have the capacity to create and nurture land and possess the ambition to support the state’s project for food security, which is of pivotal importance to Qatari citizens as well, owners of farms cannot be underestimated.

Qataris long for the day that we see our local agriculture filling our markets. This day is not far away because our young people are enthusiastic about their land and culture and have a natural affinity with the earth. The State should lift constraints and take decisions, give incentives and organise such efforts, thereby encouraging the passionate potential farmers.

Interestingly, there is a Qatari assembly of farm owners, which considers itself as specialised in corporate agricultural productivity, industrialisation, commercialisation, land reclamation, animal production, and bee-keeping. It is run by members elected in accordance with its principles but the assembly is nowhere to be found in protecting private farm owners. If the assembly is activated and has a role, influence, and presence on the ground, it should be adopted by farm owners who are educated and aware of its responsibility in order to claim their rights, present their demands, and defend their views.

The State develops slowly but deeply because its people are wise, mature, learn quickly, and have the will to achieve what they believe in. If we place our faith in our youth we will not be disappointed because they will achieve their nation’s hopes and achieve self-reliance on food one day in the near future.

the peninsula

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