Assessing Potential Yields of Selected Vegetables and Evaluating Alternate Management Practices to Improve Qatar's Food Security.

Qatar produces only about 8 to 10 percent of food consumed in the country. To enhance food security sustainability and profitability of crop production, it is important to improve farm level crop, water and nutrient management.  One major objective of this study is to share the highlights of results in assessing climate, soil and crop management constraints in Qatar using the crop model AquaCrop for selected vegetable crops including squash, cucumber and tomato. AquaCrop was used in this study to simulate yields of these vegetables for different planting cycles in the Doha region of Qatar over the 30 year period from 1985 to 2014.  These results compare well with the recent crop yield data collected from the Al Sulaiteen Agricultural and Industrial Complex site (SAIC) in Doha. The relatively lower yield with greater variability for April to June planting dates is associated with higher evaporative demand and higher temperatures during the crop growth period. Yield potentials for selected crops were simulated for conditions where water and nutrients were assumed to be not limiting. These assessments estimated the optimum amount (and timing of application) of water and nutrients required to achieve the desired production. This analysis will help inform the overall food security in the state of Qatar by assisting the decision making process in the various stages of production of selected perishable food crops. Findings of this study would contribute towards achieving the goals of our research project entitled “Improving Food Security in Qatar: Assessing Alternative Cropping Systems Feasibility and Productivity in Variable Climates, Soil and Marketing Environments” (NPRP6-064-4-001) funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF- a member of Qatar Foundation) through its National Research Priority Program.