Roses In The Desert - How Qatar Hopes To End Its Dependence On Food Imports -

The Roza Hassad greenhouses near Doha, Qatar - (Roza Hassad Facebook page)

Just 30 kilometers west of the Qatari capital of Doha, roses, gladiolus, chrysanthemum are blooming. At the request of Hamid Khalifa al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, the Frenchman produces four million flowers a year, with the help of 60 employees mostly from Nepal and India.
Inside the greenhouses of Roza Hassad, which span over 55,000 square meters, it’s a far cry from the hot and rocky scenery outside. A very precise computer-managed regulation system adjusts the humidity and lighting levels every 30 seconds in each of the 16 greenhouses, recreating a tropical climate or the colder temperatures of the Netherlands, depending on the flowers.
The seeds are planted in bedrock made of coconut residue or volcanic rock and receive water drawn 100 meters deep, desalted, then charged with nutritious elements needed for their growth. Roza Hassad is a public company founded to cut down on the emirate’s flower imports.

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