Doha: The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) and Widam Food Company (Widam) have stepped up efforts to ensure the supply of meat in local market to meet the growing demand during the forthcoming holy month of Ramadan.

The Animal Wealth Affairs at the MME has offered local livestock farms to sell their sheep through the National Initiative for Encouraging Local Production of Sheep during Ramadan and Eid Al Adha.

The initiative was launched last year to support the animal farms in marketing their products in a bid to get appropriate yields for their products.  

The deadline for registration to the initiative is April 16, 2020, the interested farm owners are required to provide the necessary details so they can supply their sheep of the species of Al Awasi, Syrian, Al Najdi, Al Hari and Arabic during Ramadan and Eid Al Adha, the Ministry has recently tweeted.

As per the term and conditions for selling sheep under the initiative, the sheep should be 30kg and aged from four to 18 months at the time of delivery for selling in Ramadan.

However, the sheep for Eid Al Adha, should be 35kg and aged from six to 18 months. All local animal farms are entitled to benefit from the initiative.

Chairman of Widam Food Company, Eng Mohamed Badr Al Sada has highlighted the company’s strategy to overcome the current challenges and preparations for upcoming Ramadan in a video footage posted on the social site of the company.

“In Ramadan, the consumption of meat increases. We have a complete and integrated plan from now till Eid Al Adha and aftermath to ensure the supply of fresh and frozen meat,” said Al Sada.

He said that during the current situation,  in case of the disruption of supply from any source, Widam has alternative sources of supply to cover it.

“We no more relay on one source. We have diversified sources of import. Now we have plan A, B and C which is ready to switch from one to other if needed,” said Al Sada.

He said that Widam is importing live animals and frozen meat from four different sources. If the supply disrupts from one source it would be compensated from other source.

“As per the plan, we are not waiting to stop import from one source then switch to another source but all four sources are functional with flexibility to increase the import when needed,” said Al Sada.

He said that Widam imports live animals and frozen meats from Australia, Azerbaijan, Romania and Arab countries.

“The demand of sheep especially the Arabic one increases in Ramadan and Eid Al Adha because Qatari citizens prefer it and we are ready to meet the demand,” said Al Sada.

SOURCE: THEPENINSULAQATAR