Kamel Abdallah, Group chief executive officer of Baladna Food Industries, discussed the challenges and opportunities for sustainable food security in Qatar, during a lecture at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q).
He was speaking at the Dean’s Lecture Series, a CMU-Q forum for leaders in business and government to discuss the pressing issues that affect Qatar and the world.
During his talk, Abdallah highlighted the crucial partnership between the private and public sectors, stressing that this collaboration has made it possible for Qatar to make giant strides toward food security.
“Baladna and the Qatar government have worked together in many areas, including developing advanced technologies in livestock breeding and agricultural production. Before the blockade, we were importing 100% of our milk. Today, 100% of Qatar’s dairy products are from Qatar.”
Michael Trick, the dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, noted: “Food security is not just a policy question, it involves business, technology, science and sustainability. At CMU-Q, we encourage our students to think beyond their main area of study, and I thank Dr Abdallah for outlining how we can tackle food security by integrating these areas of expertise.”
Abdallah said education is vital for the next generation to understand the connections between fresh food, proper nutrition and sustainable packaging and a healthy community. He encouraged universities to work with the private and public sectors to advance food security, particularly in the area of research and development.
“Whenever you come to a university, you see the future. I see the future here today,” he remarked.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programmes in biological sciences, business administration, computational biology, computer science and information systems. Details are available online ar www.qatar.cmu.edu
Source:gulf-times.com
