After a three-day Eid Al Fitr break, the winter vegetable markets in Qatar reopens today with a new schedule to continue offering farm fresh local vegetables at reasonable rates.

The three winter vegetable markets out of five that resumes operation from today are:

1. Al Mazrouha

2. Al Wakra

3. Al Khor-and-Al Zakhira

They are open from 6am to 12 noon according to Abdurrahman Al Sulaiti, General Supervisor of Winter Vegetable Markets at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME).

The official said that the winter vegetable markets at Al Sheehaniya and Al Shamal have been closed for this season. He added that the markets will operate strictly following the precautionary measures implemented by the State to contain the virus spread to ensure the safety of the visitors and vendors.

Al Sulaiti stressed that the agricultural season in Qatar for this year is the largest due to remarkable growth in the production of vegetables which reached over 30 percent more this year compared to last year. He further stated that the winter vegetable markets opened for this season in the beginning of November when the harvest of vegetables at local farms began, adding that three markets will keep operating until the end of the production at the farms.

There are many types of vegetable available at the winter vegetable markets including:

• tomato

• cucumber

• zucchini

• leafy vegetables

• egg plants

• pumpkins

• sweet melon

• water melon

• cabbage

• cauliflower

• lettuce

• mushroom

• onions

• fish outlets in Al Wakra

• fruit shops in all three markets

Local farms are producing high-quality vegetables which were classified into A, B and C categories as per the quality for pricing and they are available in local market. They completed their preparations to supply fresh vegetables in large quantity from greenhouse and farms to winter vegetable markets. 

Greenhouses are pumping verity of vegetables in large quantity, however the production of farms reduced to few types of vegetables as the agriculture season is going to end, said Ali Ahmad Al Kaabi, owner of Global Farm for Agricultural Supplies, one of the local farms.

Al Kaabi mentioned that they are producing various types of vegetables including eggplant, cucumber, tomato, green chili, capsicum in greenhouses and sweet melon and pumpkin in the farms. He added that local agricultural produce attracted large number of customers because of its quality and freshness as it reached within few hours from farms to the shelves.

The outlets at the markets are shaded so there will be no problem to operate from 6am to 12noon.

In cooperation with the Qatar Development Bank, the Global Farm for Agricultural Supplies participated in a number of international agricultural exhibitions in Moscow, Berlin, Paris, Singapore and with the support of MME in Tunis where the visitors were surprised to see Qatari vegetables and this manifests the great quality of local vegetables, Al Kaabi concluded.