Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager Katara (third left) with Salman Mohammad Al Naimi (second right), President of the committee of Mahaseel Festival at a stall after the opening of the festival at Katara, yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit/The Pen
Freshly picked locally grown vegetables are being sold directly by Qatari farms at low prices at the inaugural Mahaseel (Harvest) Festival which opened yesterday at the Cultural Village-Katara.
Hundreds of people yesterday thronged the various stalls representing more than 22 local farms to buy vegetables from as low as QR1 per kilo, in addition to meat, free range eggs, honey, dairy products and flowers among others.
Among the vegetables sold at the festival and their prices per kilo are cabbage (QR1), cucumber (QR3), marrow (QR3), broccoli (QR8) cauliflower (QR3), string beans (QR9), capsicum (QR6) and green chili (QR6). Widam also has a stall which sells lamb and beef at affordable prices.
The festival is a one-stop for local produce organised by Katara in collaboration with the Agricultural Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to support and promote local farmers.
“The festival primarily concentrates on local products because we believe that they are better than imported ones. We want to show that Qatari products are of high quality and encourage Qataris and non-Qataris to patronise them,” Katara General Manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti told the media
Al Sulaiti stressed the festival also targets raising awareness among children on the advantages of eating fresh products especially those grown in local farms.
“This is the first edition of Mahaseel Festival and it started strong. We are planning to organize it annually, and hopefully extend it in the future,” he added.
Harvest festival also features basket decoration contest
Participating farms are also upbeat of the festival benefiting both local farmers and consumers.
“This is really supportive to the farmers as well as the consumers because they will know that there are vegetables grown in Qatar to avoid buying imported ones. It is also an opportunity for farms to get feedback from the consumers,” said Bader Ahmad Al Emadi of Paramount Agriculture Farms.
“We grow different types of vegetables such as cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant and bean sprouts as well as a variety of organic mushrooms such as white, brown, shitake, portobello oyster and yellow oyster mushrooms, “ said Al Emadi.
The 185,000sqm farm utilizes modern techniques in cultivating vegetables naturally avoiding chemicals and pesticides as much as possible, he said, adding they supply to hypermarkets and other stores and Al Mazroua and Al Khor and Al Dhakira yards, he added.
“This is a good initiative from Katara to support the local vegetable and flower growers linking them to consumers directly in a festival which runs for four months,” said Nagoor Meeran A Rahman, senior production manager of flower section at Al Sulaiteen Agricultural and Industrial Complex (SAIC).
Specialising seasonal flowers for over 15 years, SAIC has introduced many new seasonal flowers to Qatar, some of which are being showcased at the festival.
“We grow nearly 50 types of seasonal flowers which we supply to municipalities, landscaping companies, nurseries, garden centres and local customers.
"We produce nearly eight million plants in a year including summer and winter types of seasonal flowers. Our major product is petunias which come in more than 20 different types,” said Rahman.
The festival also features student-based activities such as basket decoration competition which runs daily at 5pm and cart decoration competition for 10 local schools. There is also a weekly contest entitled “Colour the Sketch” which is open to the public in which a QR200 worth of purchasing coupons are at stake. Art workshops are held from 8am to 11am, and from 5pm to 8pm.
Running parallel to the festival is the Palms exhibition which promotes awareness on the planting process and the phases of growth of the tree, its fruit and its health benefits and other food products made from it in addition to traditional crafts and the palm tree’s honoured status in the Holy Quran.
Qatari women and housewives share their expertise with visitors on how to make delicious local dishes using chicken, poultry, and available milk products at the festival’s local food zone.
Located in the southern area of Katara, the festival is open from 8am to 9pm until Saturday, after which it will remain open on Fridays and Saturdays until the end of April from 8am to 6pm.
