Qatar’s Agriculture Industry To Grow at CAGR of 5.47%

Doha, Qatar: According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the country’s agriculture market size is estimated at $162.08m (QR 590.09m) this year and is anticipated to amount $211.53m (QR 770.13m) by 2028, increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.47 percent during the forecast period.

Recently, the Ministry of Municipality mentioned that the country achieved several of the goals of its food security policy in 2021 as local vegetable output grew from roughly 66,000 metric tons to more than 103,000 metric tons, resulting in a 41 percent self-sufficiency rate

However, the ministry stated that local vegetable self-sufficiency is anticipated to be at 70 percent by the end of this year as local dates are presently 86 percent self-sufficient is expected to grow by 95 percent.

“Qatar meets most of its domestic cereal demand through imports. Brazil, the United States, India, and Australia are some of the major exporters of cereals to Qatar,” it said.

Qatar, however, is targeting “self-sufficiency” in agricultural products by encouraging its farmers to adopt advanced farming techniques, the report notes.

The vegetable segment in Qatar stands robust comparatively. Some of the most grown vegetables in the country include Tomato, pumpkin, eggplant, cabbage, cucumber, onion, and cauliflower.

The report highlighted that Charity entities in the country distributed and installed dozens of solar-powered irrigation units for internally displaced farmers in northern Syria with its “Support Vegetable Value Chain’ project, which aims to help 200 summer vegetable farmers with the necessary agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and drip irrigation networks.

The project also aims to provide agricultural guidance on the best means to achieve the highest level of vegetable production at the lowest costs, give remunerative profits to the farmers, and provide vegetables at the lowest prices in the market.

Hence, the report underscores that a number of factors, including the surge in adoption of advanced farming technologies and conducive government policies supporting domestic crop production along with a highly active local supply system, are some of the factors driving market growth in the country.

The analysts states that the Ministry is working to encourage farms by launching various agricultural initiatives and providing technical support and services to farmers.

However, it has distributed 5,777 greenhouses (normal, cooled, and hydroponic) to farm owners from 2016 to 2021 in order to form an integrated system for the greenhouse, which leads to increased production and reduced waste in water use.

“In 2021, the country produced the highest vegetable production of tomatoes with 32,555.1 metric tons along with coverage of an area of 191.5 hectares in greenhouses in the country, followed by cucumber and sweet pepper, which will make the country implement more advanced technologies and adopt farming practices to make the country self-sufficient in agricultural production,” the report added.