When attending different grocery markets in Qatar, there are some markets like Monoprix and Mega mart who rely most on imported produce rather than products that are locally produced. But when I took it upon myself to see markets like Al Meera, more local produce like vegetables were produced in Qatar. Although there is an environmental agricultural problem in Qatar previously that suggested Qatar’s geographical location is not fit for produce, Qatar’s produce is thriving in the markets. To find answers on whether or not the people of Qatar prefer locally produced or imported goods I asked different people at Monoprix and Al Meera. It was evident that people that go to Monoprix purposely go to get French products, not necessarily vegetables or fruits. A handful of people said the produce from abroad was “more flavorful”, whereas others believed that local produce are “fresh and are likely to be stored longer”. The questions were distributed amongst Qataris and non Qataris just to avoid a sense of bias within this research. When examining the produce in Almeera, more products were Qatari products, like tomatoes and cucumbers. Monoprix products were mainly from Jordan and Morocco and Belgium. A particular interview with a Qatari woman in Almeera suggested that she would prefer foods from Qatar for a number of reasons, the first being that she justifies Qatar produce as more “trusting”, she is concerned about the genetically modified foods that come from abroad and what that can do to ones body. She also claimed that Qatar food is more fresh just like everyone else interviewed.However, within this study I asked the people if they think Qatar’s produce is a problem and most said that it never occurred to them to be in a situation where there would be a shortage of produce, but due to our geographical location it could be understood differently by outsiders.
This study reminds me of environmentalist Guhas text “Radical American Environmentalism and WIlderness Preservation: A Third World Critique”. His text argues the critique the west has on third world countries and their ecology, in simpler terms the involvement of politics has a major contribution within the environment. His text argues that anthropocentrism and biocentrism differentiation is what showcases the issues of environmental degradation in the third world.Given that Qatar is considered a part of the Southern Hemispheres “Global South” this would immediately categorize them as part of the Third world countries. With Qatar being a very hot country, the issue of production is also something that the west would fit us into being a country that suffers from lack of produce, hence requiring the west to step in and help. Although the west could see our issue of produce as something that limits us, Qatar still finds different solutions that contribute to food production being effective. Solutions such as getting soil from abroad, produce from abroad and fertilizations too.
