Ministry of Municipality plans to launch an initiative to reduce local farms' production cost

As per a top official, the local agricultural products will become even more affordable as the Ministry of Municipality aims to undertake a programme to lower local farmers' production costs in order to make their products more competitive against those from outside.

According to the plan, Dr. Masoud Jarallah Al Marri, director of the food security department at the Ministry of Municipality, will sign an agreement with Mahaseel for Marketing and Agricultural Services Company to provide labour workforce and services to local farms during agricultural seasons, replacing a significant portion of their permanent workers.

He said that Qatar's National Food Security Strategy 2023–30 will include the proposal. By the end of this month, the plan is anticipated to be implemented. The Ministry intended to engage Mahaseel on a contract to deliver agricultural services to nearby farms. "Local farms incur the highest labour costs, driving up their production costs, according to the agricultural census of Qatar, which was carried out by Qatar University," stated Al Marri.

He claimed that the primary factor making it difficult for local agricultural products to compete with imported goods and necessitate ongoing government backing is the worker force.

We found the cause for local agricultural produce's rising production costs after analysing the study, and we're trying to find a suitable solution to the issue," stated Al Marri.

He said that this was one of the findings of a recent agricultural census. According to the agreement, training programmes would be used to give the labour force with the skills needed for the agricultural sector.

Not all year round, but during key times like planting and harvesting, there is a great need for labourers.According to Mahaseel's concept, farms will receive staff as needed. 

Al Marri stated: "The company will also offer agricultural services to farms so they won't need to own expensive equipment and labourers for agricultural work."

According to him, farmers will attend workshops to learn how to lower output costs by implementing an effective agricultural management system.

"The ministry is focusing on bringing about appropriate solutions to the problems of the agricultural sector, enabling local farms and the private sector to come forward and launch their projects at their own," stated Al Marri.

According to him, government assistance and subsidies must be removed over time in order to promote sustainable development because they are only necessary temporarily for transactions.