The measures taken by the government to make Qatar self-sufficient in food products have started yielding positive results. Qatar is expected to be among top 10 countries in Global Food Security Index by 2021, driven by the Strategic Food Security Project 2019-2023, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.
Director of Food Security Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), Masoud Jarallah Al Marri has said that Qatar achieved self-sufficiency in a number of fresh products — 106 percent in fresh milk, 75 percent in fish production and 127 percent in fresh chicken. A number of new projects and programme were launched under the national food security strategy in 2018 after blockade in cooperation with public and private sectors
The Global Food Security Index considers the core issues of affordability, availability, and quality across a set of 113 countries. The index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model, constructed from 34 unique indicators, that measures these drivers of food security across both developing and developed countries.
Stable food prices, and near non-existent poverty contribute to ensuring food security, in particularly food affordability. Food affordability is measured by the ability of consumers to purchase food, their vulnerability to price shocks, and the presence of programmes and policies to support consumers when shocks occur.
Qatar had ranked 29th in the index in 2017 when the blockade was imposed. With the help of food security programme, Qatar jumped to 22nd position in 2018 and in 2019 it made another major achievement securing 13th position.
Qatar had exceeded the target in achieving self-sufficiency in various fresh food products, including vegetables, meat and fish in 2019. Qatar’s National Strategy for Food Security has also played important role in boosting self sufficiency in food products. The food strategy of Qatar is based on four points which include local production, strategic reserve, international trade and supply in local market.
The strategy helped Qatar to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of a number of fresh food items by boosting the local food production with the help of advanced technologies like vegetables, dairy, meat and fish. New projects in cooperation with private companies have been also launched to increase the self-sufficiency rate of Qatar in fresh food production to meet the existing and future demands. A number of projects have also been launched to increase the production table eggs and vegetables. All these measures have made enabled Qatar to achieve remarkable progress in food security.
