+ A
A -
Satyendra Pathak
Doha
Agrico, the largest organic producers for vegetables and fruits in Qatar, is meeting 170 percent demand for organic products in the local market, the company’s managing director has said.
In an interview with Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of AgriteQ 2021, Agrico Managing Director Nasser Ahmed Al Khalaf said, “We are producing more than the market requirement for organic products in Qatar. In terms of organic products like tomatoes, cucumber, zucchinis, mushrooms, eggplant, and capsicum, we are supplying the market with full capacity.”
“As we are not exporting currently, we are unable to sell all of our products in the Qatari market as organic products. To sell the rest after meeting the local demand for organic, we have to sell them as normal products,” Khalaf said.
While the demand for organic products is growing in Qatar, Khalaf said, Agrico’s growth has outpaced the market growth.
“We are producing 4,500 tonnes per year of different types of crops and we are increasing every year. We are increasing almost 100 percent every year. So hopefully next year our production will increase by another 2000 tonnes,” he said.
“We are fully prepared to sell a large volume of our organic products in the international market once exports for such products from Qatar are resumed. We have been talking to the government to start export so that all our products are sold as organic products,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company is working on adding new products to its portfolio.
Khalaf said that Agrico is in the process of setting up a huge farm for shrimp production in Qatar.
“We are in the process of shrimp production at our farm. Hopefully, our shrimp will be available in Qatar’s market in the next six months,” he said.
The production will be around 350 tonnes per year of freshwater shrimp, Khalaf said adding it will meet at least one-third of the local demand estimated at 1,000 tonnes annually.
Khalaf also revealed that the company has ventured into aquaponics and started fish production.
Qatar’s agriculture sector has risen above various challenges with an increasing number of companies utilising cutting-edge technologies and new business models to bring the country closer to food
security.
Agrico is expanding this know-how both locally and in partnership with international firms, Khalaf said.
“We have international partners for technology in irrigation, raw material, weather stations, controllers, and monitoring software to manage farms,” he said.
Khalaf, however, said that Agrico has developed most of the technology related to greenhouse locally.
“We have developed greenhouse system ourselves, without help from any expert companies,” he said.
“We have a patent to develop Agrico model of greenhouses. Our model is the only one that produces around the year. We have been producing every single day since 2015 in a commercial way,” Khalaf said. In terms of self-sufficiency, he said, Qatar has made a great deal
of progress.
He, however, said that all farmers in Qatar need to be educated as they have been using a certain system for a long time.
“We are also in talks with government bodies to spread this knowledge across the country that will ensure year-round production,” he said.
With the extensive experience that Agrico possesses in the agricultural sector especially in hydroponic greenhouse technology, he said, “We are able to offer solutions to the needs of our customer in the particular climate conditions of Qatar.”
“We have developed several farms in Qatar. For Al Safwa Park, we have developed some of their greenhouses. For Al Waha Park, we have developed 100 percent of their farm which is around 20 hectares (200,000 square meters). It is 100 percent hydroponic and of the largest firms today in Qatar,” he said.
“We provide wide range of exceptional greenhouses for both commercial and domestic usage. All our greenhouses are equipped with a weather station for monitoring temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, and PH Irrigation station is used to supply irrigation to a different type of houses based on irrigation on demand technology, automated timer-based and manual operation divided in to multiple zones,” he said.
Besides developing farms in Qatar, Khalaf said, Agrico has started exporting its hydroponics farming technology to other countries also.
“We are developing a 1 million square meter farm in Oman in partnership with the government of Oman. We are also in the advanced stages of negotiations to develop such kinds of farms in South Australia and Malaysia. So we are actually exporting our technology to foreign countries,” he said.
Doha
Agrico, the largest organic producers for vegetables and fruits in Qatar, is meeting 170 percent demand for organic products in the local market, the company’s managing director has said.
In an interview with Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of AgriteQ 2021, Agrico Managing Director Nasser Ahmed Al Khalaf said, “We are producing more than the market requirement for organic products in Qatar. In terms of organic products like tomatoes, cucumber, zucchinis, mushrooms, eggplant, and capsicum, we are supplying the market with full capacity.”
“As we are not exporting currently, we are unable to sell all of our products in the Qatari market as organic products. To sell the rest after meeting the local demand for organic, we have to sell them as normal products,” Khalaf said.
While the demand for organic products is growing in Qatar, Khalaf said, Agrico’s growth has outpaced the market growth.
“We are producing 4,500 tonnes per year of different types of crops and we are increasing every year. We are increasing almost 100 percent every year. So hopefully next year our production will increase by another 2000 tonnes,” he said.
“We are fully prepared to sell a large volume of our organic products in the international market once exports for such products from Qatar are resumed. We have been talking to the government to start export so that all our products are sold as organic products,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company is working on adding new products to its portfolio.
Khalaf said that Agrico is in the process of setting up a huge farm for shrimp production in Qatar.
“We are in the process of shrimp production at our farm. Hopefully, our shrimp will be available in Qatar’s market in the next six months,” he said.
The production will be around 350 tonnes per year of freshwater shrimp, Khalaf said adding it will meet at least one-third of the local demand estimated at 1,000 tonnes annually.
Khalaf also revealed that the company has ventured into aquaponics and started fish production.
Qatar’s agriculture sector has risen above various challenges with an increasing number of companies utilising cutting-edge technologies and new business models to bring the country closer to food
security.
Agrico is expanding this know-how both locally and in partnership with international firms, Khalaf said.
“We have international partners for technology in irrigation, raw material, weather stations, controllers, and monitoring software to manage farms,” he said.
Khalaf, however, said that Agrico has developed most of the technology related to greenhouse locally.
“We have developed greenhouse system ourselves, without help from any expert companies,” he said.
“We have a patent to develop Agrico model of greenhouses. Our model is the only one that produces around the year. We have been producing every single day since 2015 in a commercial way,” Khalaf said. In terms of self-sufficiency, he said, Qatar has made a great deal
of progress.
He, however, said that all farmers in Qatar need to be educated as they have been using a certain system for a long time.
“We are also in talks with government bodies to spread this knowledge across the country that will ensure year-round production,” he said.
With the extensive experience that Agrico possesses in the agricultural sector especially in hydroponic greenhouse technology, he said, “We are able to offer solutions to the needs of our customer in the particular climate conditions of Qatar.”
“We have developed several farms in Qatar. For Al Safwa Park, we have developed some of their greenhouses. For Al Waha Park, we have developed 100 percent of their farm which is around 20 hectares (200,000 square meters). It is 100 percent hydroponic and of the largest firms today in Qatar,” he said.
“We provide wide range of exceptional greenhouses for both commercial and domestic usage. All our greenhouses are equipped with a weather station for monitoring temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, and PH Irrigation station is used to supply irrigation to a different type of houses based on irrigation on demand technology, automated timer-based and manual operation divided in to multiple zones,” he said.
Besides developing farms in Qatar, Khalaf said, Agrico has started exporting its hydroponics farming technology to other countries also.
“We are developing a 1 million square meter farm in Oman in partnership with the government of Oman. We are also in the advanced stages of negotiations to develop such kinds of farms in South Australia and Malaysia. So we are actually exporting our technology to foreign countries,” he said.
