Page 89 - Arabian Studies (V)

Water Resources and Agriculture in Qatar 79
Thus it is clear that the net extraction from the northern ground-
water province has greatly exceeded the mean annual recharge,
resulting in an average annual deficit of 27.7 x 106m.3, thus exceed­
ing recharge by 80 per cent. The southern groundwater province
appears to be in closer equilibrium with a small annual increment
of 1.3 x 10*111.3 which however does little to correct the overall
imbalance. The effects of this excessive ‘mining’ of groundwater
resources are manifested in a declining water table and increasing
salinity by diffusion at depth and laterally by seawater intrusion.
The future development of agriculture and indeed the whole
question of ensuring adequate supplies in the future for all
purposes is a matter of some concern. At present rates of extraction
it is estimated that the effective life of the northern freshwater lens
is of the order of 25-30 years.

7. Agriculture
Unlike al-‘Ayn in the United Arab Emirates (Stevens, 1970) and al-
Hasa’ in Saudi Arabia, where oasis agriculture has been practised
for centuries, there is no tradition of oasis agriculture in Qatar.
From about the early 1950s a number of small farms was estab­
lished near Doha in the northern districts, all deriving their irriga­
tion supply from pumped groundwater. During the 1960s there was
a considerable expansion in irrigated agriculture with a four-fold
increase in the number of farms, from 119 to 411, during the ten
years ended in 1970. In the face of increasing water resource
problems, soil salinity and other socio-economic factors the
number of farms has now declined to 270. In 1976, 981 ha. were
estimated to be under vegetable crops, 105 ha. under cereals and
322 ha. under fodder crops. In addition, fruit trees (including
dates) covered a total area of 566 ha. The net farmed area therefore
amounts to 1,975 ha. or 0.17 per cent of the total land area of the
country and the net irrigated area 1,786 ha. The farms themselves
are located on rawdah soils in depressions where the net cultivated
area is generally small. The average net cultivated area is 14.7 ha.,
with a standard deviation of 10.4 ha. Three distinct farming
systems may be recognised and have evolved in response to water
quality. In northern Qatar, where soil and water conditions are
better than elsewhere in the country, vegetable farming predomi­
nates. In the central region vegetable farming gives way to an equal
number of vegetable-orchard-forage crop enterprises and in the
south central region the majority of farms follow an orchard-
forage crop enterprises.
All agricultural land in Qatar is vested in the Government and