Qatar Agriculture

Qatar is located half way along the western coast of Arabian Gulf falling approximately between the Latitudes 24 30' S and 26 34' N and the Longitude 50 40' W and 52 45' E. Qatar is a peninsula that extends northward covering an area of 11,437 sq.km. It includes a number of islands in the coastal waters of the peninsula. Hawar Archiepelago, Halul and Al Bashiria are the best known among these. The peninsula is approximately 165 km. in length and 80 km. in width, surrounded by the Persian Gulf from north and east, and by the Gulf of Bahrain from the west.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates form the southeastern border of the country. The total coastline including the islands is over 700km (approximately 23% of the total Gulf coastline). The shoreline of the mainland is irregular and has many bays, which are called locally 'Khawr'; this is an Arabic term used for small elongated bay such as Khawr Al Udeeid, Al khawr, etc. There are also many Spikes (Ras in Arabic) which result from erosion and are particularly numerous, like Ras Laffan, Ras Abu Aboud, Ras Rakan, Ras Ashrij, etc.

GCC Protected Agriculture

Protected agriculture was first introduced to Qatar in 1976 in cooperation with FAO. By 1995, the area of greenhouses was about 64.3 hectares. In 1979, a research station was started for protected-agriculture (PA) activities and it was modernized in 1984. The on-going research activities in the Horticultural and Greenhouse Experimental Station in Ottoria is organized under four major research programs:

(1) Development and adaptation of new growing systems and techniques with emphasis on soilless culture;

(2) Greenhouse management to improve the efficiency of the greenhouse cooling system, to assess various shading systems and materials, to utilise solar power for irrigation and water desalination, and to assess the design and performance of different irrigation systems and materials;

(3) Crop management-influence of different spacing and plant densities on yield and quality of cucumber, and irrigation, nutrition and pest and disease control;

(4) Crop and cultivar responses and performance under local conditions. Lack of information, high costs and low returns are blamed for the slow growth of PA in GCC. Training of technical PA personnel and development of low-cost, efficient greenhouses are considered the most important needs. Farmers also need specific advice in PA.