Page 77 - Arabian Studies (V)

Water Resources and Agriculture
in Qatar

John G. Pike

1. Introduction
Qatar occupies an arid peninsula of 10,600 km2 that protrudes into
the Arabian Gulf as an appendix to the Arabian Jazirah. This
peninsula is about 180 km. along its north-south axis and the east-
west width at its widest point is 85 km. Despite Qatar’s marked
cartographical feature, little geographical information existed prior
to the advent of oil exploration in the years prior to the second
world war. Johnstone and Wilkinson (1960) have given a brief
account of early exploration history and geographical features but
apart from data contained in a number of official reports, there
remains a general paucity of published data and information.
The advent of the oil age has completely transformed the socio­
economic scene of Qatar. Prior to this the country was sparsely
settled in the northern and eastern coastal areas by members of
various tribal groups, some of whose origins may be traced to the
Najd region of Saudi Arabia and others from various other parts of
the Gulf. In the southern half of the country members of the
‘Awamir, Manaslr and Banl Hajir tribes pursued an alternating
transhumance with the interior of Saudi Arabia. The permanent
settled population at that time is estimated to have been about
25,000 and its main occupation was fishing and pearling. Oil
production commenced in 1948 and rose steadily to 13,845 tons in
1966 but over the past decade has doubled to a stabilised level of
some 26,000 tons. With the raising of posted oil prices in 1974,
annual revenue from oil production has increased nearly seven-fold
from £140 million in that year to an estimated £940 million in 1977.
Although the indigenous population has increased at a rate of
about 3 per cent per annum to a present day total of approximately
52,000, the total population is now variously estimated to be

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