D. Suhair bint Sanad Al -Muhannadi
In the Kingdom of Bahrain, where the land was for decades of water scarcity and the challenges of urbanism, today it erupts from its green terrain, an honorable development story, narrated from the roots of palm trees, and the faces of the tired farmers luminous with determination, agriculture is no longer a rural luxury, but has turned into a strategic national project that carries the signature of leadership that believes that food security is not imported, but is cultivated, narrated, narrated, narrated It is preserved.
The wise leadership, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Great, realized that agriculture is not only a production sector, but is the spirit of sufficiency and the shield of sovereignty, and from this faith, it launched strategic initiatives, most notably the “King Hamad Agricultural Development Award”, which was never a symbolic prize, but an actual engine for the agricultural sector, changed the face of Bahraini agriculture, and raised Its standards to global levels.
The most prominent that can be monitored in the fifth edition of the award is the root transformation in the mentality of Bahraini farms. It is no longer a traditional farmer waiting for the seasons, but an agricultural, technical, creative researcher, who conducts experiments on the seeds, studies the market, and sows what the Bahraini consumer needs, not what the old farmer is used to. The farmer Ali Ashour, one of the award winners, cultivates more than 45 agricultural items, including ten types of tomatoes alone, and Mirza Hassan has doubled during a contract. And it reached the production of local tomatoes to cover 80% of the market during the peak seasons, these percentages are not silent numbers, but rather national indicators that Bahrain has become tangible in a significant way to secure its food in the hands of its children.
Government initiatives were not limited to the award only, but also included the development of agricultural infrastructure by expanding agricultural reserves, which rose from 10 to more than 60 reserves during a few years, and the state also encouraged the use of vertical agriculture and modern irrigation technologies, which led to an increase in production by between 30% and 40%, according to what farmers themselves reported.
But agriculture is not only production, but not only, and here, the role of Bahraini scientific research has emerged represented by Dr. Majid Ahmed, who won the award for the best agricultural research, about the schedule of deficient irrigation and its impact on palm trees, his study concluded that the ability to provide 40% of the water using an inferior irrigation system, without negative impact on production, this study, if it was classified, may change the rules of irrigation in the dry areas, and open the door For regional cooperation in facing the water crisis.
Remarkably in the Bahraini experience, that all this agricultural effort was not immune to environmental values, as the Kingdom, which is fighting a sustainable battle in light of the climatic challenges, has put in its agricultural strategy a commitment to preserving the agricultural environment, and enhancing the balance between local and imported production, this conscious approach, guarantees the quality of the national product on the one hand, and prevents collision with the reality of the global market on the other hand.
There is no more sincere than the land when you speak, and what the Bahraini land said in recent years, is: “The political will when it converge with the resolve of the citizen, it brings vegetables, fruits and national dignity.” What is grown today in a jacket, Carskan, Al -Himmah, is not a choice, lettuce or tomato On numbers and indicators, we find that the Kingdom of Bahrain has made a confident pace towards partial food contentment, as local production covers between 60% to 80% of some basic seasonal crops, and the percentage of sufficiency of vegetables reached more than 45%, which are promising numbers in an environment of the most climatic challenge in the Gulf.
In light of these achievements, the His Majesty’s award remains a symbol of stimulating minds before the hands, so every farmer stands on his land today, realizes that it is not grown only for tomorrow, but also a chapter of a national security story, titled: “We eat from what we grow, and we grow for survival.”
In agriculture, as in politics, good seeds do not bear fruit unless it is covered in a land that is believed in it. And Bahrain, a land that believed in its farms, believed in it.
Media and academic researcher
