Qatar, yesterday, kicked off the 8th International Agricultural Exhibition (AgriteQ) at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. A total of 208 companies from the agriculture, environment, food and animal production industries are taking part in the five-day exhibition spread over 23,000 square metres area. More than 42 countries, represented by their embassies of trade bureaus in Qatar, are also taking part.
The exhibition, which is being held for the 8th year running, is expected to give a fillip-up to Qatar’s efforts in achieving self-sufficiency in agricultural products, especially in vegetables, poultry, animal, dairy and fish production. The event, with the participation of several international companies with expertise in different sectors and technologies in the field of agribusiness, will act as a stimulant for the local farmers as it will introduce the latest developments from around the world in farming sector.
Agriculture in a country like Qatar with arid climate and water scarcity is dependent on modern technologies to meet the challenges of cost-effectiveness of the production process. Qatar has made great strides in agriculture during the past few years by introducing and adopting best-in-the-world scientific advancements in the field, which helped achieve enough local supplies of a variety of produces such as vegetables like cucumber, tomato and several leafy varieties, poultry, dairy products fish etc to name a few.
There are several other events also being held as part of AgriteQ such as EnviroteQ, VeteQ and FoodteQ etc dealing with veterinary services, food technology and environment. Qatar, as a highly environment conscious country, always ensure the developments do not adversely affect the environment and ecology of the country and the region. Hence, in the field of agriculture also the country ensures that new technologies and methods being adopted conform with the environment norms in place, and the EnviroteQ will shed light on the cutting-edge advancements in the field of environment protection. VeteQ will provide a learning experience for farmers engaged in animal husbandry and FoodteQ is expected to help in diversifying the process of value addition to agricultural produces such as dates, honey, vegetables etc. When it comes to agricultural sustainability, value addition plays a vital part in keeping up the vibrancy of the sector being instrumental in introducing newer products into the market.
A decade or two ago, nobody familiar with the country’s climatic conditions would have believed that Qatar would one day become self-sufficient in a vast variety of agricultural produce. But Qatar is making it a reality now by producing myriad of food varieties locally and most of them in enough quantity to feed the entire population of the country. Yes, Qatar is making the impossible possible.
