QC’s Food Security Committee Calls for Unifying Efforts of the Sector

19/2/2018

Members of the Food Security & Environment Committee at Qatar Chamber (QC) called for the bringing of all parties responsible for the development of strategies, plans, studies and laws on food security in the State of Qatar in one body, considering that the multiplicity of bodies responsible for this sector has complicated the procedures.

This came in a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment of the Qatar Chamber, during which the Committee changed its name from the Committee on Agriculture and Environment to the on Food Security and Environment Committee.

During the meeting, the members of the committee called for the development of an appropriate integrated infrastructure to support food security projects in the country, stressing the importance of easing the procedures for establishing and developing such projects.

They praised the State’s keen attention and interest in achieving food security and self-sufficiency, demanding more support for food projects, farms and other food production projects in the country.

The meeting, which the first of the Committee during 2018, focused on the constraints faced by the owners of farms, which are prices, marketing, financing and others.

Chairman of the Food Security and Environment Committee Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Obaidly said that the Committee seeks to listen to the views of the private sector with regard to food security and agriculture in order to refer them to the concerned authorities to find appropriate solutions.

He pointed out that the concerned authorities in the State has allocated 70 million riyals to support the productive farms during the current year, noting there are billion worth of projects, in which the private sector should have an active contribution.

Director of Agricultural Finance in Qatar Development Bank Ali Al Mohannadi, pointed to the high demand for food security projects especially in the backdrop of the siege imposed on Qatar. He stressed the importance of the development of investors through the activation of local farms, estimated at 1400 farms which need effective development plans that can contribute to achieving high rates of self-sufficiency in some products.