Dear Doha Diary

Now one wouldn't necessarily think of the Middle East region as a salad garden, given the lack of rainfall throughout the year, so the plans for Qatar to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetable production over the next 5 years may seem ambitious. But this is indeed the aim, as stated by the Minister of Municipality and Environment, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi at an event for Qatari farmers held back in January this year. This came to my attention after I started to notice more local produce in the Carrefour supermarket where I do my weekly shop.  I've been impressed by the supermarket's policy of labelling the country of origin of all fresh produce, which gives consumers the choice to support local farmers in Qatar and other producers from the region. The issue of 'food miles' has been on the minds of western consumers for some years now,  as we learn more about the impact of food transportation on the environment.   Being from the U