Doha, October 25 (QNA) - The Ministry of Municipality, through its Agriculture and Food Security Sector, explored avenues for cooperation with a Japanese delegation representing HarvestX and Mitsubishi Corporation to substantially bolster agricultural development and food security in the State of Qatar by applying artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to agricultural research and developing innovative technological solutions.

The meeting was chaired by Assistant Undersecretary for Agriculture and Food Security Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality, Yousef Khalid Al Khulaifi, with representatives from the ministry's Agricultural Research Department in attendance.

Discussions focused on Japan's experience in deploying AI-powered robots and their role in advancing agricultural operations and boosting production efficiency. Participants also explored opportunities to transfer and adapt these technologies to local environmental and production conditions through research trials on food-security crops at farms and research stations.

Al Khulaifi underscored the importance of leveraging cutting-edge technologies and AI-powered applications to develop the agricultural sector and devise practical solutions to challenges facing domestic production, thereby optimizing efficiency and sustainability and bolstering the national food security system.

Director of the Agricultural Research Department, Hamad Al Shammari, welcomed cooperation on research trials to assess the effectiveness of robotics and AI-powered technologies in improving the yields and quality of food-security crops. He stressed the importance of rigorous scientific and practical evaluation to determine their suitability for local conditions and the potential to scale up their use.

  The Japanese delegation was invited to participate in the Qatar International Agriculture Exhibition in January 2027 to showcase its experience in applying advanced technologies to agricultural operations and unlock opportunities for knowledge transfer and the exchange of expertise.

The meeting wrapped up with discussions on the foremost challenges facing the agricultural sector and the potential to deploy AI and robotics to develop practical, locally tailored solutions that strengthen research cooperation and open up new avenues for sustainable agricultural production. (QNA)