The Center for Sustainable Development in the College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University (QU) is creating integrated knowledge and collaborative arrangements to solve the pressing issues of sustainable development of water and food security, preserving and protecting the environment in Qatar, while reducing and adjusting the long-term impacts of climate change. As a result, QU designed and constructed a Vegetable Factory Pilot Plant to be located in university premises.
Through its research centers, QU supports research projects focusing on food security. Dr. Hareb M. Al-Jabri and Dr. Mohammed H. Alsafran formed a QU research team to explore non-traditional solutions to meet the challenges associated with national food security. The research team started to seek internal and external partners to contribute and support the scientific and technical vision developed by the research team. The research team selected the Japanese company Chiyoda Corporation because of its experiences in the development of innovative technologies in the field of agriculture and vegetable production. The proposed technology is compatible with Qatari environmental conditions, in terms of water scarcity and space constraints and high temperatures. This unconventional technology is characterized by the absence of a link between production and environmental factors, which maintains the continuity of production and product quality and safety.
This Pilot Plant Project is implemented as a part of the contribution program to the promotion of educational and cultural exchange between Qatar and Japan, with the sponsorship funds of US$6million provided from Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese diversified trading conglomerate to QU. Marubeni and QU signed a Memorandum of Understanding of the sponsorship fund in 2012 and have implemented jointly activities such as the publication of an Arabic encyclopedia describing Japanese culture and history, invitation of QU students to Japan, holding Japanese cultural events at QU and the establishment of a faculty chair in Japanese studies and language at QU to foster an understanding of Japanese culture.
The engineering, procurement services, supply and installation of the cultivation equipment of the Vegetable Factory Pilot Project was awarded to Chiyoda Corporation and Chiyoda Almana Engineering jointly.
Both Chiyoda Corporation and Chiyoda Almana have a long history of successful projects’ execution in Qatar mainly in the hydrocarbon industry but also many other projects related to environmental sector. Both companies are seeking to expand their collaboration with local entities and governmental authorities in Qatar to provide solutions for environmentally friendly energy and conduct business activities that contribute to environmental conservation.