When the illegal siege of Qatar began in June 2017, there were widespread fears that the country’s food supply would be critically hit.

However, Qatar quickly opened new trade routes and also began taking steps to shore up production at home. And now, those efforts seem to have paid off as the country has doubled its agricultural and industrial projects, reported Gulf Times.

Not only has Qatar doubled its number of projects, but it has also achieved self-sufficiency in food materials and will soon start exporting surplus food to other nations.

Abdullah bin Nasser Al Fahid, Qatar’s Acting Charge d'Affaires in Vienna, disclosed this during his address to the 46th United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Industrial Development Board yesterday.

The statement was referring to Qatar’s economic growth at various sectors following the siege, in addition to the plans and programmes adopted by the country to diversify its economy according to Qatar National Vision 2030.

Qatar has doubled the number of factories since the start of the siege and gave special attention to the food sector by focusing on local production, the statement said, according to The Peninsula.

Al Fahid said that the country, after mostly relying on imports for years, had started producing much of its required food locally. He added that by the end of the year, 90% of dairy products would be produced locally, with plans afoot to export the surplus products.

Qatar also managed to decrease its economic dependence on oil and gas exports from 86% to 54% and was planning to bring down the number further.

The Qatari economy underwent structural changes to diversify it. More focus was given on industrialisation, diversification of employment opportunities, the involvement of youth in industrial development, and development of the industrial sector to achieve self-sufficiency and meet market needs.

Al Fahid said Qatar was also keen to set up an investor-friendly atmosphere for in private manufacturing sector.