Farming In The Desert Fahad Al-Attiya, Qatar National Food Security Programme - Hub Culture ..  Arrid deserts  Crops  Food in the desert  Qatar To say that the very affluent nation of Qatar is over ambitious would be an understatement. Qatar is rich in oil reserves and is fast turning into the new cosmopolitan capital of the Middle East. Qatar’s vast energy resources have granted it the luxury of having one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. It is a growing country with a glimmering skyline and world wide acceptance but like many other Gulf countries, it is barren and water poor. The nation of Qatar mainly relies on farmlands acquired oversees to meet its agricultural requirements. The agricultural arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, Hassad Food, has bought land in Sudan and Australia, and has announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on agricultural projects in countries including Kenya Argentina, Turkey and Ukraine.
However this is not enough for the ambitious nation. Unlike its desert neighbors, Qatar aims to produce most of its food domestically by boosting crop yields and converting semi-desert into agricultural land.
Qatar's Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani issued a decree this year to organize the Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP), tackling "one of the most pressing challenges that Qatar is facing."
Qatar like its wealthy Gulf neighbors imports almost 90% of its food requirements. With a growing population and the funds to mobilize such an audacious plan, Qatar plans to utilize the very best technological know how and equipment. The environment in Qatar is hostile to agriculture with lack of water and high salinity content. Only about 1 percent land area in Qatar has been classified as arable.
However many economists and top agricultural experts have ridiculed such plans by the nation stating that they make little economic sense. "They don't have that much land they can put into production; much of it is desert. And Qatar has a very small population," said Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. In 2008, Saudi Arabia abandoned its aims in achieving self-sufficiency in wheat simply because it was too expensive and wasteful and a drain on domestic water resources. The country in contrast relies completely on wheat imports, But Qatar has dismissed the examples of its larger neighbor and is building its plan on grit, resolve and its dominating financial power. Qatar plans on using various farming methods including open-field agriculture, greenhouse production, and hydroponics. Hydroponics is culture technology that uses less water and land while yielding 10 times more crops as compared to those grown in the open field.
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