China’s LED plant lighting helps Qatar’s agricultural development

Compared with the surrounding yellow sands, the vegetable sheds in the production area have a unique cave, and there are various vegetables in an orderly arrangement and in different growth periods. These vegetables are not grown on the ground but are planted in a multi-layered container for soilless cultivation. Each row of growing vegetables is equipped with a slender pipe for “water supply”. The technician said that this is not ordinary water, but for vegetables and nutrient solutions for growth.

China's LED plant lighting helps Qatar's agricultural development

The reporter saw that a variety of special lamps are installed on the top of the greenhouse to promote the photosynthesis of vegetables. The color and intensity of the light can be adjusted as required to cultivate green and purple vegetables. The shed is equipped with air conditioners, sensors, and computers, which can regulate temperature, humidity, and light. The technicians picked off a few leaves for demonstration and ate them, and said that the vegetables produced in this block are in short supply in the local market.

“China’s smart LED plant factory’s high-tech agricultural technology has greatly improved the economic benefits of our farm. This high-tech is not only an important guarantee for the development and growth of the farm but also helps promote the agricultural development of the region.” Farmer Fahad said.

“Alphagan Farm mainly produces seasonal vegetables. The machinery and equipment, seeds, and cultivation techniques required are imported from China and EU countries. The high-tech planting technologies are all from China. The farm will expand the production scale using China’s high-tech agricultural technology. China’s high-tech agriculture technology is very advanced, and the economic benefits produced are the most obvious. This will play a huge role in Qatar’s implementation of the Food and Vegetable Security Strategy’.” Fahd said.

Qatar is a desert country. There is no natural arable land in the country. Food, vegetables, and meat are mainly imported. In recent years, Qatar has paid attention to economic diversification and is committed to improving food production capacity, with special emphasis on vegetable production. For this reason, Qatar has introduced the “Food and Vegetable Security Strategy”, striving to increase the country’s vegetable self-sufficiency rate from 35% to 70% by 2023.

Fahd believes that in order to achieve the goal of 70% vegetable self-sufficiency, in addition to increasing the state’s investment in agriculture, it is also necessary to speed up the introduction of agricultural high-tech and comprehensive agricultural technology. China’s high-tech agricultural technology will undoubtedly help Qatar implement the “food Vegetable safety strategy”.

Fahd’s partner and general manager of the Smart LED Plant Factory Gao Yuntao said that the current comprehensive agricultural planting technologies such as hydroponics and three-dimensional cultivation techniques used in this farm can greatly increase land utilization, save water and fertilizer, and resist the effects of high temperature and humidity. Therefore, it is highly praised in Qatar. “Currently, the vegetables produced using the above-mentioned Chinese technology have grown from two varieties of 1 rapeseed and 1 lettuce three years ago to more than 30 high-priced varieties on the Qatar market, including 6 lettuce, 4 kale, 5 kinds of peppers and cabbage, spinach, celery, etc.”.

Gao Yuntao said that Alphadan Farm’s success in using China’s high-tech agricultural technology has attracted social attention. Qatar TV and other media have conducted interviews and reports on this, and some local farmers and businesses in Qatar have also come to learn from it.

Chinese Ambassador to Qatar Zhou Jian said that with the joint efforts of the Chinese and Qatar governments, the areas of cooperation between the two countries have been expanding, from traditional fields such as energy and infrastructure construction to high-tech industries. He also said that the highlight of the economic and trade cooperation between China and Qatar in 2020 is the high-tech industry cooperation. This fruitful cooperation has enhanced the level of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and boosted the diversified economic development of Qatar.