1 Introduction

Food security challenges have been a major global issue for many years. This is because food security is a comprehensive phenomenon that cuts across different sociopolitical, environmental and economic strata [1, 2]. Although the global food production has doubled in the last three decades, more than 800 million people across the world are still affected by extreme hunger [3]. Accordingly, the United Nations has included SDG2 “Zero Hunger” to the Sustainable Development Goals in the context of 2030 agenda for sustainable development towards ending hunger across the world and promoting food access to all [4, 5]. However, increase in food prices across the world has presented additional challenges in the fight against food insecurity due to a number of factors; (1.) the loss of agricultural land, (2.) restrictions on trade and export of major agricultural products, (3.) increase in oil prices that affects the fertilizer industry, and (4.) slowdown in the cereal subsector and its limited stockpiles around the world [6, 7]. Moreover, population growth in both the developed and developing countries has caused increase in consumption of foods, which directly contributes to cost increase [8].

In a fair and open market, it is believed that food security should increase with economic development. However, rich countries like the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) still face specific challenges to achieve long-term sustainable food security [9]. The GCC countries are located in an extremely arid region [10, 11], and are therefore extensively dependent on food imports, although they continue to seek higher level of self-sufficiency by relying on their unique economic advantage to cultivate lands [8, 12]. For example, in the early 1960s, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to attain self-sufficiency in wheat production, the country then embarked on domestic wheat cultivation. Production reached its peak in the early 1990s with 4 MM-ton/year, this practice consumed great amount of groundwater resources, most of which were non-renewable [13]. The practice was discontinued due to its impact on the depletion rate of groundwater aquifers. Consequently, “virtual water” importation continues to play a major role in easing potential water tension among the GCC countries, which balances the global available freshwater more sustainably. Most countries in the region now depend on the importation of water-intensive agricultural produce like cereals and sugar [14]. Moreover, the diversity in the expatriate population and the wealthy lifestyles of the GCC citizens continue to shape food imports from different countries [15]. Moreover, the nutritional habits of local citizens have dramatically been influenced by high family incomes, availability of diverse commodities and exposure to different lifestyles and cultures. However, when there is an unexpected food crisis, different policies are put to the test, and any policy or a blend of policies that withstands the shock may be adjudged the best policy that a country may adopt to attain food security. During a sudden food crisis, policymakers are expected to initiate a number of short-term policy measures to alleviate the negative impacts of the crisis [16]. Trade-related policy actions introduced by the policymakers respond to the losses from such crisis by protecting the local market from the impacts. For example, an exporting country may protect the local market by temporarily imposing a ban on food commodity exports, raising export taxes or removing export subsidies [17]. Whereas an importing country tries to decrease the prices of local food commodities by temporarily introducing tariff reduction, import subsidies, reduction in custom fees and or other import limitations.

Heretofore, Qatar dependency on food imports had reached about 90%, a result of significant transformations in economic and social dynamics just like the rest of its GCC counterparts [18]. For illustration, Qatar spent about QAR 105.78 billion between 1998–2017 (which is equivalent to ∼29 billion USD in today’s exchange rate) on food import, which includes all varieties of meats, cereals, dairies and vegetables [18]. However, the recent geopolitical tensions in the region (such as the 2017 blockade of Qatar by its neighbors), the increasing population size and the inflow of tourists have further driven Qatar to develop its food industry to confront any potential food crisis or trade shock that may arise in the future, hence the shift towards attaining some level of self-sufficiency [19].

This paper thus focuses on providing an overview on the development of Qatar’s agricultural sector during the recent period. Particularly by addressing the drivers for shifting into the new strategies, the challenges of developing the agricultural sector, the analysis of the current stages of food production, the opportunities to achieve sustainable food security, policy responses, plans for strengthening the future food security and the impacts of massive agricultural development on the groundwater aquifers.

2 Materials and methods

Since the development of Qatar’s agriculture and food industry is in its infancy, information on agriculture and food security in Qatar is limited, particularly in the peer-reviewed literature. Consequently, there are very little research papers that fully address food security in Qatar. Therefore, most of the materials presented were computed from raw data obtained from gray literature and databases, which include annual reports from different institutions in Qatar, such as Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Ministry of Public Health, Planning and Statistics Authority, Foreign Trade Portal and Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA). Other sources include global organizations and consulting firms, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and Alpen Capital.

2.1 Raw data extraction

For extracting the raw data from different databases, the method employed was based on (1) strong correlation with the theme (food self-sufficiency in the State of Qatar) of this article, (2) strong connection with the sub-themes (e.g. the drivers for Qatar’s campaign for self-sufficiency, water used for agricultural activities in the GCC, Qatar’s demographic and weather challenges, Qatar’s food security, and Qatar’s food and water sustainability in the future) in the article, (3) geopolitical tensions among the GCC countries, (4) Qatar economic boom and international oil markets, (5) the blockade of Qatar, and (6) international food trade and inflow of expatriates into Qatar. Hundreds of sources were visited, some of which contained thousands of resources on relevant topics and sub-topics of this article but were eventually narrowed down to reflect 59 cited articles. For instance, the study of the annual data of Qatar imports was carried out through Qatar’s Foreign Trade portal, sorted based on the relevant year, commodity, and country of origin. The study focused on the major imports to Qatar, such as rice, wheat, vegetables, onions, animal feed and fruits (i.e., tomatoes, bananas, apples, etc.). Data on water resources for agricultural activities were sourced mainly from the annual Water Statistics Reports published by Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA). The Qatari agriculture and food production statistical data were sourced from the annual statistics reports published online by the Planning and Statistics Authority. Moreover, specific time range (2009–2018) were applied in representing the data, which illustrates the latest published data to systematically evaluate the change and compare the relation between the agricultural sector and its related fields along the specified period to better represent the main theme of this article. In addition to these, other sources, which include the websites and published reports from global organizations and consulting firms, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), where data on Qatar’s agriculture landscape were sourced, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, where relevant data on Qatar’s economic performance were sourced, and Alpen Capital, where relevant agricultural data of GCC countries were sourced. For peer review article cited, the articles search was mainly initiated through the conventional peer review articles’ search engines, using keywords that reflect the theme or sub-themes of this article. In most cases, the search is redirected to the publishers’ websites.

2.2 Raw data treatments

Due to the large volume of the data extracted, two individuals were tasked with data curation; their activities involved cleaning and organizing the data using relevant statistical tools and charts to present the data. After these exercises, the charts are forwarded to three individuals for analysis, where questions are raised on the types of charts used. If the charts meet the required standard for a peer review article, then they are kept, otherwise they are returned for further data curation.

3 Drivers for Qatar’s campaign for self-sufficiency

3.1 Demography and economy of Qatar

Qatar population growth has been very rapid; the country witnessed about 353% population increase from the year 2000 (613,969) to the year 2020 (2,782,106) [20]. The country population is further projected to increase with an annual growth rate of 1% [21]. Qatar’s population growth is a reflection of the performance of its economy, which is expected to increase (Fig. 1) due to the establishments of new educational programs, improved healthcare delivery, industrial expansion and sport projects (especially the FIFA 2022 Word Cup) in the country— the direct results of mass inflow of foreign workers and professionals [22].

Fig. 1
figure 1

Historical and Projection of Population in Qatar

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There are eight municipalities in Qatar (Fig. 2), with about 40% of the population concentrated in the capital city, Doha. This is followed by Ar-Rayyan, the second largest city, and then Al Wakrah, the thriving commercial and fishing center [23].

Fig. 2
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Population by Municipality in Qatar 2015

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Qatar is witnessing a boom in all areas of the economy as a result of the profits earned from oil and natural gas exports [24]. In addition, the economic diversification and the increasing expansion in the oil and gas sector have provided a strong foundation for future economic growth. Qatar’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is one of the fastest growing in the world with an average of 181.47 billion USD at an average growth rate of 5% between 2009 and 2018. It reached 191.4 billion USD in 2018 with a 13% growth increase compared to 2017. This trend is expected to continue during the following years (Fig. 3a). Qatar’s rapid economic growth has been ranked among the wealthiest countries in the world as measured by per capita GDP. In 2012, Qatar’s per capita GDP reached the highest value of $101,933, and in 2018, it recorded $70,379 (Fig. 3b), the disparity is due to fluctuations in prices in international oil markets [25].

Fig. 3
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Historical and Projection of Qatar’s: a GDP, b GDP per Capita

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3.2 Food supply chain and geopolitical tensions

Qatar population increase is borne out of inflow of expatriates into the country due to the country’s economic boom. The diversity in the expatriate population and the wealthy lifestyles of Qatar’s citizens continue to shape food imports from different countries [15]. Moreover, the nutritional habits of local citizens have dramatically been influenced by high family incomes, availability of diverse commodities and exposure to different lifestyles and cultures. Due to these, there is a need for Qatar to make food available to all of its population, considering diverse tastes and nutritional requirements of different nationalities.

Pre-blockade era, most of Qatari imported food items were either received through the Saudi Arabian border or shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, little items were airlifted [26]. Although Strait of Hormuz has continuously been used as a military asset by warring nations. For example, Iran threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz when the country was at loggerheads with the United States [27], thereby exposing Qatar’s strategic supply route to an existential conflict. Moreover, the recent tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the conflicts in Yemen has again enabled the Strait to be leveraged by the waring countries, which further threatened Qatar’s strategic food supply chain [26].

The 2017 blockade of Qatar by its neighboring countries, consisting of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, implied that Qatar ships could not assess the sea routes, Qatar airplanes could not assess the airspace in these countries and even the only land border that Qatar shared with Saudi Arabia was not accessible [28]. The blockade put Qatar in a difficult situation in terms of food security, because the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had Qatar’s strategic food items supply routes [29]. Saudi Arabia on one hand supplied most essential food commodities (such as dairies, dates etc.) to Qatar through the shared land border, while the UAE is a transit country for which Qatar bound food items from abroad would pass through, although not necessarily the producing country of those food items [30].

4 Challenges

4.1 Geography of Qatar

The State of Qatar is a peninsula with total area of 11,627.8 Km2, which extends north from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into the middle of the Arabian Peninsula. It is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Arabian Gulf and borders only to Saudi Arabia in the south [31]. Geographers classify Qatar as one of the world’s most arid countries, since the country’s climate is characterized by hot humid summer and mild winter, with scarce rainfalls [32]. The land is mostly flat, rocky and made up of sandy soils. The little natural vegetation is only found in the north, while the south is arid and dotted with sand and salt flats [31]. The land has scattered oases consisting of 850 separate depressions. The depressions consist of sandy clay loam, sandy loam and calcareous loam, which have been collected up to the depths between 30–150 cm [32]. The depression soil is the main agricultural soil for the local people, and it is locally referred to as “rodat”.

Unlike some of other GCC countries with some form of arable lands, Qatar’s location within the GCC is arguably the most water-stressed and the driest, a result of high evaporation rates and low rainfall. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the available area for agriculture in Qatar is 67,100 ha, which represents ∼ 6% of the total land area of the country. There are several challenges that impede the efforts to develop agricultural sector in Qatar, which include soil infertility and scarcity of freshwater bodies among other unfavorable climate conditions. In the pre-blockade era, modern agricultural techniques, equipment and drip irrigation were not applied in most of the farms, which reduced the efficiency and the overall productivity of the agricultural sector [33]. These factors affected production and yields, which led to the importation of most of the agricultural products. However, the dependency on food imports opens all the possible challenges that might affect trade and stability, which puts significant pressure on Qatar to guarantee access to safe and sufficient food for all of its population [9, 34].

To have an idea on Qatar’s journey with respect to food self-sufficiency, Fig. 4 gives an overview of the volume of imports of basic food items into Qatar in 2016. Food items consumed in Qatar are largely sourced from Asia, Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Vegetables and fruits are imported from various countries. Jordan, Australia and India were the main exporters of tomatoes, carrots and onions, respectively to Qatar in 2016. Moreover, the Philippines exported 24,393 tons of bananas, and France exported 6,775 tons of apples to Qatar. Rice is the most staple food in Qatar; India exports about 74% of the total imports of semi milled and wholly milled rice to Qatar (142,799 tons), followed by Pakistan and Vietnam, with 15% and 5%, respectively of the total imports. Wheat is the second most common food in Qatar; the state imported 115,099 tons of normal and thin wheat from Russia, in addition to 142,799 tons and approximately 19,000 tons which were imported from India and Australia, respectively [35].

Fig. 4
figure 4

Imports of Various Crops in 2016 [35]

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4.2 Water sources for agricultural purposes and challenges

Agriculture is a challenge in the Gulf region, and as a result, agricultural policy has changed in the recent years to move away from growing water-intensive crops, such as wheat to value-added crops such as fruits and vegetables, and relying on importation of water-intensive crops from foreign countries [36]. Like most of its other GCC counterparts, Qatar is an arid country with limited renewable freshwater resources. For its domestic and industrial water consumption, Qatar depends extensively on energy-intensive seawater desalination to cover more than 99% of water demands. For agricultural activities, however, the country depends on groundwater and rainwater resources. It is important to note, groundwater and rainwater are the only natural freshwater resources in Qatar. However, there is extremely low rainfall and high evaporation rate. For example, the reported average annual rainfall is about 80 mm, whereas the evapotranspiration is about 2000 mm/year [37]. Therefore, rainfall cannot be considered as primary source of irrigation due to its low amount and high variability [38], which leaves Qatar with groundwater resources as the only economic viable alternative for agricultural activities. However, it is important to assess Qatar’s groundwater resources, its abstraction and recharge in order to understand the challenges the country faces to water its recently expanding farms.

Figure 5 presents the average water balance in Qatar’s groundwater basins for the period (1998–2014), where the average groundwater annual saving amounted to 44.2 million m3/year, this water balance is arrived at from the difference between the aquifers’ recharge (involving recharge from rainfall and inflow from Saudi Arabia) and the groundwater outflow. The recent groundwater abstraction has reached 252.1 million m3/year, resulting in reduction in groundwater levels, increased salinity and exhaustion of the aquifers [39].

Fig. 5
figure 5

Average Water Balance of Qatar’s Aquifers (1998–2014)

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There are two main groundwater basins in Qatar, which are the northern and southern basins with three secondary basins locally referred to as Abu Samra, Doha and Aruma deep basins. They are located in the southwest of the country (Fig. 6) [40]. The topmost aquifer, known as Rus aquifer, has salinity ranges between 500 and 3,000 mg/L, which increases while moving close to the sea, reaching about 10,000 mg/L near the coasts [32]. In the extreme south-western region of Qatar, Abu Samra aquifer, whose recharge source is in Saudi Arabia, has salinity levels that vary between 4,000 and 6,000 mg/L [41]. The groundwater abstraction has approximately remained the same in recent years. However, one of the key concerns of water management in Qatar is the depletion of the groundwater aquifers that is associated with increase in water salinity [42].

Fig. 6
figure 6

Groundwater Basins in the State of Qatar [40]

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A report has warned over the continuous reduction of fresh groundwater lenses in Qatar [43]. Figure 7 shows the condition of the groundwater lenses in 1971 and in 2009. The groundwater lens in 1971 occupied 1683 km2 (15%) of the total area in the north central part of Qatar, whereas in 2009, the groundwater lens has reduced to just 275 km2 (2%) of the total area, which shows the level of abstraction of Qatar groundwater for agricultural purposes. Moreover, Mohammed and Darwish reported in 2017 that groundwater with TDS less than 1000 mg/L would be exhausted in 9 years (that is in 3 years from now) [14]. Furthermore, brackish water, with TDS less than 2000–3000 mg/L has gradually been declining in the last few years. The report [43] also lamented the increasing salinity of the wells used for agricultural purposes, which requires the well to be desalted before it can be used for farm irrigation. As a result, the operational and capital cost of farm irrigation has increased. The affluent farmers have resorted to reverse osmosis desalination technology to treat their brackish water, whereas the poor farmers have altogether abandoned their farms due to high salinity of the water used for irrigation [14].

Fig. 7
figure 7

Qatar groundwater salinity Isoconcentration map in 1971 and 2009

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Surprisingly, the number of new registered farms has increased [44], although most of the farms are now well equipped with advanced desalination technologies. Due to the rapidly declining groundwater levels, there is a mounting pressure for farmers to improve their water-use efficiency. In order to arrest the already worsening situation, the government has restricted the drilling permit in recent years. The government, through the Ministry of Environment has equally legislated a limit to the amount of groundwater withdrawal. As a result, farmers have devised means to increase their water-use efficiency, and there has been a steady decrease in the amount of water use per ton of agricultural produce. For example, the water-use efficiency has increased two-folds between 1995 and 2013, whereas 940 m3 of water was needed per ton in 1995, the amount has reduced to 437 m3 per ton in 2013 [14]. Although the water use efficiency has increased, crop yield is still very low when compared to the regional and international standards. Notwithstanding the increase in water-use efficiency, agricultural water use in Qatar will continue to be a contested issue— should Qatar continue to practice a fully open boarder policy amidst regional disputes while preserving its meager groundwater resources or resort to increasing its domestic food sufficiency with the groundwater price to pay? It is evident that Qatar cannot efficiently manage what is rarely available. What is becoming apparent is that the country may eventually delve into seawater desalination for agricultural purposes, and in that, there is a huge economic (mainly associated with energy consumed) price to pay on one hand, and an environmental (due to carbon emitted, chemical and brine discharges into the ocean) price to pay on the other hand.

Reused Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) is the second main water source for agriculture in Qatar. Qatar has 24 wastewater treatment plants, and the capacity rose by 17% in the period between 2012 and 2017. The plants were treating 229 million m3 in 2017 from the total amount received (i.e. 231 million m3) (Table 1) [45]. TSE covers the supplementary water demand for agriculture, as it presented 22% of the total amount of water used for agriculture in 2016 with 66.29 million m3. Out of around 67% of treated domestic wastewater in Qatar, 50% is distributed at no cost to the city of Doha for landscape irrigation, and 17% to commercial farms for irrigation of fodder crops. 21% of treated domestic wastewater is injected into groundwater, and the remainder is discharged into a lake at Abu-Nakhla [46]. TSE plays a key role in landscaping and irrigation purposes [47]. Moreover, it promotes soil enrichment if it is used for agriculture after proper treatment and control as TSE contains essential macronutrients like nitrogen and potassium, and micronutrients such as manganese, zinc, etc., which enhance soil fertility and accordingly reduce the demand for fertilizers. Although treated wastewater is a promising solution to the limited freshwater resources, different social, cultural, and religious aversion to it limits the use of treated wastewater in the agricultural sector.

Table 1 Water sources used for agriculture [41]
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As it currently stands, the overall water supply statistics in Qatar accounts for 50% from desalination (which is about 100% of the urban water supply excluding landscaping), 36% from groundwater (which is mainly used for agricultural purposes) and 14% from treated sewage effluents (TSEs), part of which is used for landscaping and irrigation of animal fodders in commercial farms [42].

Since the share of TSEs used for agricultural purposes is small, there is a great potential for this resource to be fully utilized, especially as the population of Qatar continues to grow, and it is expected that the wastewater generated will equally increase. It is important to note that the production cost of TSEs is significantly lower (25% lower than desalination in Qatar) than the most cost efficient desalination technique [48].

5 Analysis of the current situation— food production in Qatar

5.1 Agriculture

The past years, especially during the blockade, have thought Qatar the hard lesson to create a balance between open border policy and self-sufficiency. As a result, Qatar is pushing forward, and extensively encouraging the cooperation of farmers and food companies to the initiatives launched by the government to support self-sufficiency. It is important to note that the cultivated land for agriculture increased from 9,112 ha to 13,203 ha between 2009 and 2018 (Table 2), and so the self-sufficiency especially after the 2017 blockade. What is more interesting is the number of cultivated lands in 2018 (the year following the blockade), where there was about 2,000 ha increase more than 2017. Moreover, Qatar’s major irrigated crops are dates, fodders, vegetables, and some fruits. In 2018, green fodders comprised 58% of the total cultivated land, while vegetables, dates, cereals, and fruits represented 21%, 18%, 2% and 1%, respectively. The cereal production decreased during the last 5 years with an average cultivated area of 305 ha (an indication that Qatar now focuses on food production that requires less amount of water). In the period between 2009 and 2016, the cultivated areas for vegetables and green fodder increased (Table 2), where Al-Rayyan accounted for the highest number of farms in 2017 (Table 3). The spatial distribution of cultivated area on Qatar’s Map (see Fig. 8) shows that the farming areas are highly fragmented and scattered throughout the northern and central regions of the country where groundwater is accessible and of adequate quality – unlike the southern part where the water is deeper and more saline.

Table 2 Land utilization in Qatar (2010–2018) [49, 50]
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Table 3 Number and areas of farms (hectare) by type and municipality in 2017
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Fig. 8
figure 8

Spatial Distribution of Cultivated Area on Qatar’s Map

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Accordingly, only 0.53% of cereals requirement (wheat, maize and barley) is met by local production with an average production of 51,248 tons/year. In the recent years, vegetables production in greenhouses increased, with domestic production in 2018 being 74,650 tons covering 14.56% of the total consumption and by a growth rate of 35% compared to 2011, while vegetables import was 439,617 tons for the same year. The overall self-sufficiency ratio for vegetables increased from 12.3% in 2016 to 14.1% in 2018 [50]. Moreover, the government is also making efforts to convert 110 ha of unproductive land to high tech greenhouses using hydroponics technology in order to achieve 70% self-sufficiency by 2030 for specific greenhouse vegetables. On the other hand, the local production of fruits has remained nearly the same during the last 3 years with an average production of 29,349 tons, having a share of 11.66% in self-sufficiency (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9
figure 9

Quantity of Agricultural Production in Qatar (2011–2018) [50]

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Another key factor is the evolution of yields and total production in the recent years (see Table 4). For instance, tomato is one of the major vegetables produced in Qatar; the annual production was almost doubled from 14,563 tons in 2017 to 26,133 tons in 2018 (the year after the blockade). In 2016, Qatar imported about 57,256 tons of tomatoes, while 12,694 tons were domestic production. In addition, cucumber was also widely planted under different types of greenhouses in Qatar; in 2016, the total amount of imported cucumber was lower than the local production (11,500 and 17,612 tons, respectively). It is important to note that imported food is high during the summer and early autumn months, while in the winter and spring months, local production from greenhouse is available and covers about 70% of consumption. It is also important to note that the self-sufficiency ratio for vegetables and fruits exhibits a seasonal pattern, thus it is essential to conduct the evaluation on a monthly basis rather than a yearly basis; for instance, in 2018, the annual self-sufficiency ratio for tomatoes was 35%. However, it was more than 70% in February 2018 and then reduced to zero during the summer months where the country was completely dependent on imports. Based on QNFSP strategy for 2018–2023, the aim is to increase the self-sufficiency of certain vegetables to 70% by 2023 (up from 20% in 2018). Open field agriculture currently represents the core of farming, where more than 70% of farmers use flood irrigation for fodder, while the remaining 30% use sprinkler irrigation. In 1976, Qatar began what is termed “protected agriculture” when FAO and the Department of Agricultural Affairs established plastic houses in the North Research Station” [51]. Nonetheless, the adoption of the technology has been extremely slow as approximately 12% of farmers use protected farming, with greenhouses being the dominant technology, and the majority of greenhouses are of the non-refrigerated type [32]. Protected agriculture could become a major contributor to food self-sufficiency in Qatar, particularly in vegetables and fruits production by saving water and minimizing the use of agro-chemicals.

Table 4 Production and average yield for different vegetables in Qatar (2016–2018) [50]
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The crop production index relates to the annual agricultural production to the base year 2004–2006; the average value for cereals, vegetables, fruits and dates for the same period were 19, 151, 168 and 209, respectively (Fig. 10). Comparing between 2017 and 2018, it was increased from 20 to 59 for cereals, from 167 to 225 for vegetables, and from 214 to 221 for dates, however it was decreased from 150 to 45 for fruits (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10
figure 10

Quantity Index Number of Agricultural Production (2009–2018) [52]

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5.2 Livestock

5.2.1 Meat production

Regarding meat production, red meat production increased from 2,939 tons in 2009 to 9,828 tons in 2018 (Fig. 11). Qatar’s red meat consumption per capita is relatively low compared to poultry meat. The average per capita expenditure and consumption per month for meat and poultry in (2012–2013) was 130.59 tons. Brazil, USA, Australia and India were the four major exporters of red meat to Qatar. Fresh poultry meat production has seen an increase after the blockade, as Saudi Arabia used to be the major exporter in the GCC region. The production of poultry meat in Qatar increased from 15,206 tons in 2017 to 26,208 tons in 2018 (Fig. 11). In addition, eggs production increased as well from 4,962 tons to 8,372 tons, showing a 69% increase. On the other hand, total imports of poultry products and eggs in 2018 were 124,480 tons and 36,136 tons, respectively, leading to a self-sufficiency of eggs of 18.9%.

Fig. 11
figure 11

Meat and fish production (2009–2018) [52]

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5.2.2 Fish production

Qatar has a relatively short coastline of 563 km and coastal waters are characterized by extreme meteorological and hydrological conditions, with temperatures varying from 19°C to 32°C, accompanied by high evaporation rates and high salinities [53]. In 2013, the average per capita annual fish consumption was 22.3 kg, a figure higher than the world average consumption of 20.0 kg. The fishing sector remains important in economic, social and traditional terms as well as providing job opportunities in coastal areas [36, 41]. Fishing has increased from 4,400 tons to about 15,000 tons, covering 74% of the domestic demand, while fish and processed seafood imports per year is approximately 20,000 tons from different countries such as Oman, Vietnam, Thailand, and others at a cost of 25 million USD.

During the 2014–2018 period, fish production in Qatar averaged 15,190 tones (Fig. 11). In order to increase fish production and to develop R&D on marine finfish and shrimp in January 2020, the Aquatic Research Centre of the Ministry of Municipal and Environment in Ras Matbakh was commissioned (north of Al-Khor City on the East coast), with an initial production of two million larvae of fish in 1 year. The overall goal of the institute is to support the development of the aquaculture sector in Qatar in order to support local commercial fish production [54] and therefore, contribute to achieving self-sufficiency, food security and the annual productive capacity of marine resources.

5.2.3 Milk and dairy products

The blockade on the State of Qatar stopped the importation of dairy products from Saudi Arabia, on which the state was totally dependent with 400 tons of milk and yogurt imported daily. However, during the blockade, Qatar recovered from importing 90% of milk and its derivatives to achieving self-sufficiency to overcome the crisis. Baladna Company imported 4,000 cows from the United States and Europe immediately after the blockade, which contributed to help face the crisis from the shortage of dairy products at the time. Meanwhile, the number of cows has increased to 22,000 and the farm has the capacity to host up to 24,000 on an area of 2.4 million square meters. For example, milk and dairy production increased from 56,146 tons in 2017 to 226,408 tons in 2018 [50] (Fig. 12). As a result, Qatar is now self-sufficient in dairy products, and it has begun to export fresh milk to Afghanistan, Yemen and Oman.

Fig. 12
figure 12

Milk and Dairy Production (2011–2018) [52]

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5.2.4 Animal feed

Beyond food directly consumed by humans, imported feedstuff equally plays an important role due to rapidly increasing dairy production. Therefore, the amounts of imports of raw fodder have increased significantly after the blockade, reaching 17.571 million tons in 2018 (Fig. 13). The importation of concentrated preparations for the feed industry was 10.721 and 10.395 million tons in 2016 and 2017, respectively, while the main five exporting nations to Qatar were the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ireland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, the total poultry food imports in 2016 was 8,870,631 tons, mainly imported from the UAE, Denmark, Belgium, Kuwait, Turkey, and Ireland. In 2018, the poultry food imports considerably increased from Turkey, Sudan, Oman and Iran with total amount reaching 18,252,565 tons, a 40% increase compared to 2017 (Fig. 14).

Fig. 13
figure 13

Imports of concentrated preparations for the feed industry in 2018 [55]

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Fig. 14
figure 14

Poultry Food Imports [55]

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5.3 Food security in Qatar

Food security exists when all humans have the economic and physical access to sufficient and safe food. There are four pillars to achieve food security [21, 32, 56]:

  • Food availability: ensure sufficient food is available with appropriate quality through local productions or importations.

  • Food accessibility: individuals’ ability to access adequate food resources (entitlements).

  • Food utilization: benefit from food resources through an appropriate diet, clean water, and healthcare, thus physiological needs are provided.

  • Food stability: to have adequate food access at all times with no risk of losing food availability due to sudden shocks (weather, price fluctuations, political or economic factors).

It is important to review Qatar’s pre and post blockade positions in order to assess whether Qatar has achieved some level of food security in its recent campaign for self-sufficiency. Global Food Security Index is computed by the intelligence unit of The Economist. It is based on four pillars, “Affordability”, “Availability”, “Quality and Safety”, and “Natural Resources and Resilience”. In 2017, Qatar was in the top rank among 113 countries in the three pillars of Global Food Security Index; under the “Affordability” pillar with 93.3 points, then Singapore, US and UAE with 91.3, 85.9 and 84.9 points, respectively [18]. The points are calculated based on six indicators, which are GDP per capita, food consumption as a proportion of household spending, the percentage of the population living below the global poverty line, the existence of programs for food safety nets in the country, and farmers’ access to financing. For “Quality and Safety” pillar, Qatar was first ranked among the GCC countries with 74.1 points, followed by Kuwait (73.7), Oman (73.7) and UAE (68.6). On the ‘Availability” pillar, Qatar globally got the 63rd place that measures the annual spending on R&D for developing the agricultural sector and its infrastructure, infrequency of agricultural production, inadequate supply, and food loss. Overall, Qatar ranked 29th, the overall score is the weighted average of affordability, availability, quality and safety, and natural resources and resilience. In 2018 however, Qatar overall global food security index moved from 29th to 22nd position as shown in Table 5, an indication that the recent self-sufficiency campaign by the government has added some ranking to the country’s food security ratings.

Table 5 2018 global food security index ranking of the GCC countries [9]
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6 Future of food security and agricultural water use efficiency in Qatar— a policy framework

In the year 2018, Qatar faced an agricultural trade deficit of QAR 4.4 billion (USD 1.2 billion) [57]. In order to address any future shock on food security, Qatar established the Qatar National Food Security Program (QNFSP) in 2008, which targets the reduction of food imports and moving towards self-sufficiency as well as achieving water and energy security. The program is working to enhance the agriculture sector expansion by introducing the most appropriate technologies, which could be economically and resource efficient, such as hydroponics, drip irrigation and other water-efficient techniques. Accordingly, the program plans to convert 110 hectares of land to high tech greenhouses using hydroponics technology to achieve 70% self-sufficiency for a number of specific greenhouse vegetables [58]. The QNFSP (2018–2023) is pursuing several initiatives that will strengthen the food system, which are summarized in four main pillars:

  • The first pillar is the Domestic Self-sufficiency Action Plan (Table 6) aimed at achieving: (a) 70% self-sufficiency for greenhouse vegetables by increasing the vegetables production using hydroponics greenhouse cluster. (b) Reduce the use of groundwater for fodder production and shift to TSE. (c) Enlarge the red meat and fisheries production. (d) Shift to milk derivatives and egg production and accordingly suspend any new project related to fresh milk products [59] due to the recent achievement of 100% self-sufficiency in fresh milk and poultry.

  • The second pillar is the Strategic Reserves that include the following initiatives: (a) to cope with any water crisis, it is essential to increase the reserve of potable water that could be used during any crisis. (b) Focus on decreasing the water salinity and net depletion in aquifers by improving the water management system for agriculture.

  • The third pillar is International Trade and Logistics, it is critical to ensure that the trading routes are diverse and prepare contingency plans for alternative routes, which will help reduce the risk in case of any sudden emergency.

  • The fourth pillar is the Domestic Market, by enhancing the mechanism of transport of food from the initial point – port or reserves – to the table, in order to limit food waste and losses.

Table 6 Domestic self-sufficiency (SS) action plan for 2018–2023
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7 Conclusion

In the recent years, especially since the blockade of Qatar by its neighboring countries began in 2017, Qatar’s food security has taken a new dimension. The impossibility and the impermissibility of importing many of the products that traditionally used to come from the neighboring countries have led Qatar to increase its domestic food production in order to ensure food security of its population. However, this sudden change has been difficult to handle since the country has had to overcome its unique topographic challenges, mainly from low-fertility sandy soils under an extreme arid and hot climate. While energy is not a problem for Qatar, due to its large oil and gas reserves, water scarcity arises as the main limiting factor. So far, the country has supported the agricultural production by extracting groundwater at a higher rate than its natural recharge, making agricultural activities unsustainable. As a result, Qatar is embarking on alternative ways to provide farm produce to its population with low water footprint (e.g., the use of treated wastewater or implement more efficient desalination technologies).

Qatar has achieved self-sufficiency in some farm produce (e.g., milk and poultry), whereas other farm produce (such as vegetables and fruits) are still not self-sufficient. As a result, the country has tasked the Qatar National Food Security Program (QNFSP) to achieve 70% of its vegetables, 30% of red meat, 95% of fresh fish, and 63% of animal fodder demands by 2023. This strategy includes specific action plans for each commodity and specific measures to be implemented in order to increase the environmental sustainability of locally produced foods. In parallel to these initiatives, distribution chains and other facilities have equally been improved to ensure that local farmers can deliver their produce to the markets in the country.

In less than 4 years, Qatar has increased its local food production, thus increasing food security and the resilience of its food system. The country’s food system is now less susceptible to disruptions in the international food supply chains. Resilience of food systems is a key issue, especially at this time, when many countries in the world have been affected by the disruptions caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. Many countries around the world can learn from Qatar the strategies the country deployed to achieve its current level of food sufficiency after it was blockaded by its neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the following years are crucial for Qatar to address the negative externalities derived from local food production, especially those acquired from the use of water resources.