DOHA

- As part of Qatar's pursuit of sustainable food security, the Agricultural Research Department of the Qatari Ministry of Municipality has succeeded in developing a new farming method, the first of its kind, that combines multiple agricultural methods and methods, called "Sustainable Qatari Agriculture".

This new method will help increase the fertility of agricultural soils, produce organic vegetable crops at competitive prices, due to the low cost of production inputs, and preserve the natural farm resources and the Qatari environment.

It also contributes to independence from the global market and achieving self-sufficiency in fertilizers and agricultural pesticides, by adopting an approach from agriculture that depends on local resources. Atmospheric remains in the soil in the form of carbon (coal) and remains constant over thousands of years.

The consultant at the Agricultural Research Department of the Ministry of the Qatari Municipality, Dr. Ali Al-Kharbutli, says that sustainable Qatari agriculture is one of the ecological (environmental) farming methods that have been developed to suit the Qatari weather and environmental conditions, under the system of protected agriculture in insect-proof net houses, and it can also be used in the field. open.

Sustainable farming methods aimed at developing this sector in Qatar (Al-Jazeera)

cut expenses

Al-Kharbutli explains, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, that this method is more of a cultivation method than a method of cultivation that includes many methods of cultivation inherited through generations in many countries of the world, but it was developed in a systematic manner used to achieve a return for the farmer by reducing expenses and raising the value of the organically produced crop to be A competitor for the same products in the global market.

He points out that while the well-known organic farming method focuses on replacing chemical inputs in agriculture with manufactured organic or biological inputs, the new method depends on the optimal use of the resources available on the farm and the surrounding area of ​​plants, microbes and animals, and purchasing from outside the farm is minimal, as In this method, the farmer makes production inputs (substitutes for fertilizers and pesticides) and does not depend on purchasing from the local market or importing.

He explains that in addition to the contribution of this method to enhancing the biological life associated with the growth of the crop in the soil, it has a low environmental and carbon footprint, and this helps to preserve the natural farm resources, and the final result will be the preservation and development of the environment and its components in a way that leads to the recovery of the Qatari environment.

Regarding the expected application of this new method in agriculture, Al-Kharbutli explains that the goal is to produce the maximum amount of organic vegetables at the lowest possible cost, and to reduce the prices of production inputs by manufacturing them locally and not relying on buying chemicals and pesticides from abroad, as well as increasing soil fertility.

Sustainable Qatari agriculture contributes to a 90% decrease in the cost of production (Qatari Press)

Multiple advantages

Al-Kharbutli draws attention to the fact that the new method of farming is a method of cultivation that enables the farmer to be completely independent from the market, and leads to reducing expenses, and transforming the farmer into a producer in the true sense of the word for food, not a consumer of fertilizers and pesticides.

The consultant at the Agricultural Research Department at the Ministry of Qatar Municipality enumerates the advantages of the new method of cultivation, pointing out that it is characterized by its low cost (reduces costs by more than 90%) and its dependence on farm outputs and waste (farm soil, plants and animals).

Also, microbes can be collected and multiplied in a simplified way, so the average farmer can collect them and then use them, and produce solid and liquid organic fertilizer, whether it is aerobic or anaerobic, as well as starting to build the soil by increasing the percentage of organic matter year after year.

Al-Kharbutli also stresses that the method is not satisfied with moving from chemical agriculture to organic agriculture, because well-known organic agriculture currently depends on many fertilizers and pesticides that it produces from foreign companies, and thus does not achieve independence and food security, which can be affected as a result of the interruption of supply chains.

He explains that purchasing these fertilizers increases the cost of production, and leads to a rise in the prices of organic crops in the markets, and is not accessible to everyone or the local product does not have any price advantage over that of imported from abroad.

He believes that the new method of farming plays an important role in overcoming the challenges of the agricultural sector by contributing to increasing farmers' orientation to produce organic vegetable crops for low production costs, as well as producing organic vegetables locally at cheap competitive prices due to the low price of production inputs, and it also does not contain any high techniques and training can be done. They are of any level of education for farmers or workers.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Municipality, represented by the Agricultural Research Department, is keen to organize training courses for farmers and farm owners related to projects to raise the sustainable productivity of vegetable crops, as part of Qatar's endeavor to increase food security by increasing the domestic product of leafy and fruit vegetable crops throughout the year and with minimal water consumption. .