QATAR - HIDDEN TREASURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST...

QATAR...The worlds richest country...is a sovereign state situated on a small peninsula, north/east on the larger Arabian peninsula and facing the Persian Gulf....and the beneficiaries of one of the worlds largest reserves of "black gold"...oil...

Since becoming Independent in 1971, it has transformed from a native population of around 240,000 to having 1.4 Million living within its borders.  Of the 1.4 Million, 300,000 are of Qatari blood with the remaining 1.1 Million coming to the sovereign state from other Arab countries, Africa and Asia.

What a contrast... from India to now Qatar...this is the story of 10 Nuffield's in the Worlds richest country....

We focussed our learning in this kingdom around 2 sovereign companies, being Hassad Food Group and Mawashi Meat and Trading Livestock, Hassad Food Group gave an insight into BIG strategy that few of us had rarely experienced before and Mawashi allowed us to experience the operational/slaughtering end of the live sheep we export to this region....

Firstly...Hassad Group....this sovereign company was founded in 2009, under the umbrella of the Qatar investment fund, and created with the sole agenda of providing food security to the Qatari people.  In a rapid expansion globally this company is travelling the world to invest strategically in land and huge capital development projects to ensure continual supply of food into Qatar.  To date they have purchased 290,000 ha's of land in Australia and their vision is to become Australia's largest sheep producer/exporter.  In looking at my notes and writing this blog, I do wonder what impact this vision and goal of the Qatar kingdom will have on live sheep prices in Australia, because if they can supply a large portion of sheep from their own Australian properties will the economic function of supply/demand be disrupted and lower prices being the outcome be less price for the Aust sheep producer....
What money and resources can achieve.....we travelled to a Hassad farm bout 30 minutes from Doha, where they are irrigating land to produce fodder/hay and some crops....check out the 2 pictures below to give you an idea as to the miracle that water.... and lots of money..... can create out of a desert...

Irrigated fodder crops under irrigation 30 minutes from Doha

In the same spot I turned 180 degrees and this is the land that they have developed under irrigation...mostly limestone......

We met with a number of executives of Hassad, the 2 main contributors to our learning were two Aussie guys who are working in the acquisition and development executive roles, and they explained to us some of the fascinating projects that are currently being negotiated and developed through this kingdom company....for example...they are purchasing land in Sudan (to us it looked like brown desert) and with negotiation with the Sudanese government they are going to develop the land, extract water from the white nile and in 12-18 months will have 1000 pivots operating, mostly growing fodder (Saudi used to produce a lot of fodder for this region but have decimated their underground water supplies so have had to stop).  This development will be in excess of 100 million dollars...
Other countries they are looking to invest in....Kazakhztan, Canada and South America....their biggest limitation in acquisition of land and development of that land is that a number of countries have strong laws against foreigners purchasing land....which brings to consideration the debate that often rages in Australia about letting our precious land resources be sold...there are clearly some benefit for Australians in allowing foreign investment, but as one of the executives from Hassad commented to us....Australia has lost control of its "arteries" being the grain port system, and no country should ever allow this to occur......interesting thinking and comment.......I tend to agree....

The Hay shed at the Doha farm, no expense spared and they also are building a very grand guest house too

Such is the randomness of birth-right in the life journey that we have... the Qatari people are wealthy beyond belief and every company in Qatar has to have a Qatari figure head, albeit it they have little to do with the actual running of the business...the kingdom has been clever in engaging very clever executives at the next level....The Qatari people are paid an enormous salary by the kingdom, but the kingdom is also very mindful of making sure they keep the blood-line "pure" so the wealth stay distributed within a few...what does this mean.....Qatari people can marry outside of their own bloodline, however they will have reduction of their wealth sharing and if they marry another pure Qatari they receive an ENORMOUS cash bonus...

This is in contrast to the story we heard about the Nepalese worker who had emigrated to Qatar is search of work and was sending money home...after 5 years he had saved up enough money to fly back to see his family, so caught the flight, had to then catch a bus for a week, then walk for a week, to be only home for a few days before he had to do the walk, bus, flight back to Qatar....such is the lottery of life.....

With the sons of a camel racing stud owner........

After finishing our time with the Hassad Group (which I am sure we all could have spent days with them...fascinating to be at the edge of such massive developments...) we spent good times with the Mawashi Livestock trading group...another sovereign company...who showed us through the killing works in which our live exports are processed through after their long boat journey....it was really impressive and rivals the hygiene of Australian abattoirs....
What was so impressive was the really strong relationships that MLA (Meat & Livestock Aust) have developed with Mawashi through people like Blythe Calnan and Annabelle Coppin....these ladies have been travelling over the past few years to the middle east and working with the executives and workers of the killing works to assist them in education of handling these frightened Aussie sheep that have had a long voyage to the Middle East.  Sheep in the middle east are quite domesticated and will stand in a ute untethered and follow their handler around, hence when faced with Aussie sheep they were unsure how to handle them, Blythe and Annabelle have been instrumental in assisting them in better handling practices, to the point that through these relationships Mawashi will be implementing the Aust Govt ESCAS (Export Supply Chain Assurance System - this was brought in after the June 2011 Indonesian issue ) very willingly...and I am sure its through the hard work and great relationships these girls have created.....

Dinner with the Mawashi executives, kneeling on cushions and taking the food with our fingers...yum!!

Annabelle Coppin with a local sheep trader.....

One of the quirkiest local cultures I experienced was the local abattoir where the purchaser could choose a live sheep in a yard outside of the killing works, walk the sheep through the race with a handler directly into the killing works and then stand at a window and watch his animal being killed, to the point where at the end of the killing chain a butcher would be waiting for instructions for the purchaser as to how they would like the meat cut up.....the dialogue between the purchaser and butcher was colourful and theatrical...and bit of meat was hacked and chopped and then popped into a plastic bag to be thrown in the car (in about 50 degree heat...hope the air con was on) to be taken home...this was kind of the Qatar version of fast food!!!  But is was so nifty and real paddock to plate processing all in about 20 minutes....

Local abattoir worker with a processed fat tail lamb

The workers at the local abattoir were so happy to see us and kept yelling out "Harry Kewell"...not being of a soccer heritage it took me a while to understand...this worker badly wanted to show me the fat tail lamb that had just been processed...apparently the fat tail is a delicacy...who knows, with language barriers we may well have eaten a fat tail and not have known....I don't think I would order it
normally.....

The butcher and the purchaser discussing how they wish their animal to be cut up......

So ended our few great days in Qatar, we loved it for the extreme contrast it gave us from India (extreme wealth Qatar - compared to India's extreme poverty), but one thing that India and Qatar had in common was the warmth and friendship that was extended to us and we are just so grateful for their generosity and time in showing us their "hidden treasures"....thank-you Qatar, next stop Ukraine and Chernobyl

Before you speak, listen.  Before you write, think.  Before you spend, earn.  Before you invest, investigate.  Before you criticise, wait.  Before you pray, forgive.  Before you quit, try.  Before you retire, save.  Before you die, give....

William A. Ward

Sadly we had to send one of our scholars home to Canada due to illness, the travelling and learning can be gruelling and take a toll on peoples health.......we miss you Brenda, get well soon xx