Qatar receives cargo of cows in response to Arab blockade

Qatar received a cargo of dairy cows by plane in a plan to produce dairy products in response to the commercial blockade imposed on the small gulf country by four Arab states, Baladna, the company responsible for the shipment, said on Wednesday.

The first shipment of 165 Holstein cows arrived late on Tuesday in Doha from Budapest and is already on the premises of the farm, located in the town of al-Khor, in the northern part of the country, Efe news reported.

Baladna's public relations director Mazen al-Khayat told Efe that the next livestock shipments will arrive every two to three days from countries such as Poland, Germany, Australia and the US, to reach a total of 4,000 heads.

The farm spokesman said in a telephone interview that his company has brought the cows by plane to meet the demand in the country as soon as possible.

Baladna used to be a farm dedicated exclusively to sheep and goats, and produced their milk as well as meat.

With the arrival of the dairy cows, the company aims to meet 30 per cent of the milk demand in the country, which has a population of about 2.6 million, within two months, according to the spokesman.

Before the beginning of the diplomatic crisis on June 5, Qatar used to get food, especially dairy products, mainly through its land border with Saudi Arabia, which is now closed.

Due to the economic and commercial blockade, in the last month Qatar has begun to import food from Turkey, which has sent a ship with 3,000 tons of food and several cargoes by planes.

--IANS

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