The Ambassador of Germany to Qatar, HE Dr Claudius Fischbach has lauded the use of the latest technologies in the farming sector in Qatar. He made his remarks during a recent visit to Agrico Farms in AKhor. The trip was organised by the German Business Council Qatar.
The German delegation was received by Agrico’s Managing Director Nasser Ahmed AlKhalaf. "It is a fascinating experience and impressive to see Qatar so advanced in using so many technologies in the farming sector,” Dr Fischbach said.
"Moreover, it is amazing to see what a family business in Qatar is able to do in the desert. We look forward to prospective production of shrimps and fish,” the German envoy added.
He said that he thinks German company representatives on this visit would be thinking about how German companies could further engage with the Qatari market in cooperation with companies like Agrico.
German Business Council Qatar (GBCQ) Chairman Henning Zimmermann thanked AlKhalaf for providing an opportunity to visit the amazing farm facilities.
He said it was interesting to learn that Agrico, a family business, is the oldest trading house and among the founders in vegetables and fruit production in Qatar. "It’s indeed a great contribution towards the country's food security and meeting locally around 90% of Qatar's requirement of vegetables.”
Agrico Managing Director Nasser Ahmed Al Khalaf, meanwhile, thanked the German envoy and the accompanying Qatar-based German companies’ representatives for visiting the farms.
In his briefing, he said that this is the fourth generation of his family in the fruits and vegetable trading business. "We are also into the meat and fish processing; we have different contributions towards our country,” he said.
"We knew a long time before the necessity of food for the country, in order to meet the vegetable and fruits needs of the people of Qatar; we were the first family to start vegetable production.”
He said that knowing the ground realities and challenges in producing vegetables, the only solution was to adopt the latest technologies available for the sandy and rocky land along with the challenges from the harsh weather.
"We did not have the backup, did not have the know-how, but we had experience in producing so we started importing a lot of technology in the beginning. However, it was in 2014 that we started developing technology in-house at our farms. We started building greenhouses, our own growing system and we did import some of the technology in regards to irrigation and weather stations along with the expansion programme.”
"Today, Agrico has one farm spread on 180,000 sq m of land and another 300,000 sq m away from here. In addition to vegetables and fruits, Agrico is also producing mushrooms while egg production will also become operational by the end of this year.”
With regard to the further expansion programme, Nasser AlKahalaf said, "We have diversified plans. We recently started farming shrimp and fish, and in future, we’ll be entering into the recycling of organic waste and landscaping works.”
Talking about Agrico-German companies’ ties, he said, "We have long years of business ties with German suppliers of various materials for our business in Qatar. Moreover, we do have cooperation with each other in social work.”
Later, the visiting members of the German Business Council joined a luncheon hosted by Nasser Ahmad AlKhalaf at the family farmhouse.