Khayr Qatarna, an initiative of Sahtak Awalan – Your Health First campaign, harvested the first batch of its crops and has begun supplying fresh fruits and vegetables to local supermarkets in the country. Khayr Qatarna is the new phase of Project: Greenhouse, which has erected greenhouses at more than 130 schools around Qatar to teach children about healthy eating and cultivating food.
The new initiative has seen three large-scale, climate-controlled greenhouses built at three schools in Qatar. These greenhouses are now used to grow fruit and vegetables that are then distributed with Khayr Qatarna branding to local supermarkets. More greenhouses are in the pipeline, and all profits from the scheme will be reinvested in the initiative.
All crops have been granted the status of ‘Premium Products’ – an indication of their freshness and quality – by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment. The first crop of cucumbers and tomatoes have been harvested by local schoolchildren and delivered to local supermarkets Géant at Hyatt Plaza and selected branches of Al Meera.
Tonnes of cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, melons and other fruit and vegetables will be grown each year, and students at the schools where the greenhouses are based will help grow them and see how they are cultivated, harvested and distributed.
Khayr Qatarna was unveiled in February and initially involved over 1,500 schoolchildren for Project: Greenhouse. It is part of Sahtak Awalan – Your Health First campaign, which was launched by Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar in 2012 in association with Qatar Foundation, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Municipality and the Environment, Occidental Petroleum Qatar, ExxonMobil and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
