Annual MME Planning Forum Reviews Agricultural Sector Plans

Doha, September 28 (QNA) - The first Annual Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) Planning Forum resumed its activities via videoconferencing for the fourth day under the chairmanship of HE Minister of Municipality and Environment Eng. Abdulla bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie with the participation of several assistant undersecretaries and directors of departments and municipalities. During the sixth session of the forum held on Monday, the participants presented the plans and projects of the agricultural and fisheries affairs sector, where HE Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al-Thani presented the sector work plan, where the presentations included plans and projects for the departments including security food, agricultural affairs, livestock, agricultural research, and fisheries. Also, the session witnessed the presentation of the plans and projects of supporting activities for several departments affiliated to HE the Minister and the Undersecretary including public relations, international cooperation, and legal affairs. Then the discussions started as the participants posed some questions, inquiries, and interventions, and they were answered by the concerned departments. HE the Minister concluded the session with a speech during which he provided some instructions for developing work and upgrading the level of performance to achieve the goals and ambitions of the ministry. In this regard, HE Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al-Thani explained that the agriculture and fisheries affairs sector seeks to achieve expansion in the local plant, animal, and fish production to ensure the sustainability of this production, and to work to achieve food security, improve marketing, and investment mechanisms in the agricultural sector and involve the private sector, in addition to the optimum utilization of natural resources and their sustainability for future generations, the use of applied research, enhancing the efficiency of the services provided by the sector and ensuring customer satisfaction with them, and improving the supervisory, regulatory and legislative framework of the sector. In his presentation, Director of the Food Security Department Masoud Jarallah Al Marri touched on many projects including 10 projects for the production of vegetables in greenhouses, four projects for the production of green fodder, 10 projects for fattening sheep, projects for eggs production, a project for fish farming and shrimp production, and a project for the production of camel milk, as well as projects to increase local production of: vegetables, green fodder, red meat, table eggs, local fish, fresh poultry, and dairy. While Director of the Agricultural Affairs Department Youssef Khaled Al Khulaifi reviewed several projects and initiatives that the department is targeting, including the expansion of protected agriculture, modern irrigation systems, agricultural support provided to farm owners, increasing the area of greenhouses, distributing greenhouses of various types to farms, and converting regular greenhouses to refrigerated houses. Director of the Livestock Department Abdulaziz Al Ziyara talked about the strategy of the department that aims mainly to achieve food security through vertical and horizontal development programs. The first is based on increasing productivity by encouraging and spreading the use of modern technology while sustaining livestock health and environmental safety. The second is based on increasing productive activity without depleting natural resources, as well as continuous improvement in monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to sustain development. He touched upon several initiatives that the department is working on implementing, including the program for developing farms and farm complexes, encouraging private sector participation in food security projects, the plan to develop guidance and marketing for investment in livestock, development programs for animal numbering, and statistics, veterinary medical information systems, and veterinary services, quarries and veterinary laboratories. The main axes of the livestock management strategy include: organizing and licensing activity to achieve optimal utilization of farms in the country, interacting with the private sector to raise the level of its contribution to livestock and animal production projects, developing the system of treatment services, and vaccinations in the country to sustain the health of livestock, developing the system of field and laboratory investigation of animal diseases and epidemics, developing the monitoring system at the state's outlets to protect people and livestock from common and transboundary diseases and epidemics, monitoring, and evaluation of the services provided with the aim of continuous improvement and development to reach customer satisfaction. (QNA)