Qatar’s Minister of Municipality and Environment HE Eng. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie remarked that the country attaches great importance to its food security and the development of natural resources to increase its production and self-sufficiency.
Speaking on the occasion of World Food Day (October 16), the minister stated that Qatar’s agricultural sector took a giant leap to cover the requirements of the local market, improve self-sufficiency percentages in the plant, animal and fish sectors, and provide a balanced, healthy food for its residence following its decision to its adoption of plans and strategies based on increasing the production of agricultural commodities such as vegetables, red meat, poultry, eggs and fish.
HE Turki Al Subaie observed that the nation along with other countries and international organizations and institutions across the globe are celebrating the World Food Day amid exceptional circumstances in which the world is suffering from the coronavirus pandemic
The minister asserted that the slogan of this year’s celebration “Grow, Nourish, Sustain Together” aims to increase public awareness of the importance of food for the healthy growth of humans and future generations, while preserving sustainability while nearly 690 million people continue to suffer from hunger, in addition to two billion people suffering from what is called hidden hunger, which is a lack of vitamins and minerals, which requires helping the poor in the world to obtain a balanced food.
He stated that Qatar’s celebration of the World Food Day comes as an affirmation of the importance of providing food for everyone who lives on its land, in line with the state’s interest, under the wise leadership, to develop natural resources and wealth, especially agricultural products, towards achieving self-sufficiency in many goods and products.
The minister pointed out that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is trying, on this occasion, to affirm the human right to have access to safe food and growth and to urge governments to provide food for their people and to invest seriously in agriculture and food through sound practices to maintain sustainability.
Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Head of Qatar’s National Food Security Program remarked about the importance of moving agricultural processes towards more sustainability, saying that it will ultimately lead to more yield and less food loss.
The National Food Security Program head stated that this can only be accomplished by adopting several initiatives in the fields of harvest, storage, packaging, and transport. He stressed that all parties involved, the government, private sector, and non-governmental organizations) must work on ensuring food supplying to the growing populations, stressing at the same time that each individual has a role to play in establishing a sustainable food system.
