Qatar Eyes Global Agrifood Investments to Strengthen Food Security

Doha, Qatar - US-Qatar Business Council – Doha (USQBC Doha) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, are set to convene senior officials, private sector leaders, investors, and global experts in Doha for Profit with a Purpose – Harnessing Qatari Investments for Advancing Agrifood Security.

Taking place on 10 June 2026 at the Venezia Ballroom, Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl, the event will explore how Qatari capital, expertise, and partnerships can help strengthen food security while creating sustainable commercial opportunities across emerging and developing markets.

The session will also mark the launch of the white paper “Building Resilient Food Systems — A Roadmap for Qatar’s South–South Agrifood Investments in Emerging and Developing Markets,” co-developed by IFC and USQBC Doha over the past year through engagement with stakeholders across Qatar’s food security and agrifood investment landscape.

Qatar’s next food security chapter

Qatar has spent the past decade strengthening its food system in response to global supply disruptions, climate pressures, and regional challenges. The country has invested in supplier diversification, logistics, storage capacity, controlled-environment agriculture, precision technologies, and water-efficient production systems.

The new report argues that Qatar is now well positioned to move from resilience at home to resilience through partnership. By investing in agrifood systems across emerging and developing markets, Qatar can support its own long-term food security while creating development impact and opening new commercial pathways for Qatari investors.

This direction aligns with Qatar’s National Food Security Strategy 2030, which focuses on building a more resilient and sustainable food system through local production, strategic reserves, stronger trade partnerships, food safety, climate adaptation, and private-sector participation.

Turning capital into resilience

At the heart of the report is a simple but powerful idea: Qatar can use strategic agrifood investment to create “win-win” outcomes.

For Qatar, these investments can diversify supply chains, reduce exposure to disruption, and secure access to key food commodities. For partner countries, they can support job creation, local value addition, climate adaptation, better logistics, and stronger agricultural productivity.

The report highlights the importance of South–South cooperation, particularly with countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia. It also stresses that investment decisions should not be based only on commodity needs, but also on financial viability, development impact, climate risks, and alignment with partner-country priorities.

Priority investment opportunities

The roadmap identifies several priority agrifood value-chain opportunities where Qatari investment could support supply diversification and development impact.

These include wheat in Kazakhstan, which could help diversify Qatar’s staple grain sources and create additional corridor options; basmati rice in Pakistan, offering a route to strengthen supply of a high-consumption staple; soybean oil in Mozambique, which could provide an alternative source through the Indian Ocean trade route; beef in Namibia, with potential to diversify chilled and fresh meat imports; and poultry in Malawi, which is presented as a longer-term development-focused opportunity that could build future regional supply capacity if certification, cold chain, feed, and processing systems improve.

The report also points to opportunities for Qatar to export agrifood solutions, not only import food. These include controlled-environment agriculture in Egypt, recirculating aquaculture systems in Tunisia, digitally enabled smart agriculture in South Africa, and treated wastewater irrigation systems in Jordan.

Together, these opportunities reflect a broader shift: Qatar’s food security story is no longer only about sourcing food, but also about shaping the systems that produce, move, process, and protect it.

Innovation, ESG, and inclusive investment models

The report places strong emphasis on the need for investments to be structured carefully. It recommends that Qatar continue expanding agricultural research and development while establishing an agrifood innovation hub to support the testing and transfer of Qatari solutions in partner countries.

It also calls for inclusive business models that fit each market context, such as joint ventures, minority equity stakes, contract farming, offtake agreements, and partnerships with local aggregators or processors.

Another major theme is the role of environmental, social, and governance standards. The report recommends embedding ESG and impact requirements into appraisal processes and contracts, especially for publicly supported or strategically important agrifood investments. This would help reduce reputational and operational risks while improving access to development finance, blended finance, green sukuk, sustainability-linked instruments, and results-based payments.

Building Qatar’s role as a regional agrifood resilience hub

The event comes at a time when food security is becoming increasingly tied to climate change, geopolitics, logistics, and investment strategy. For water-stressed countries such as Qatar, food security depends not only on domestic production, but also on diversified trade routes, reliable partners, smart storage, and long-term access to resilient supply chains.

By bringing together investors, policymakers, and global experts, USQBC Doha and IFC are positioning the conversation around food security as both a national priority and a regional investment opportunity.

The white paper’s message is clear: Qatar has the capital, logistics experience, policy focus, and innovation capabilities to become a stronger regional player in agrifood resilience. The next step is turning that potential into bankable, sustainable, and high-impact partnerships across emerging markets.

A platform for purposeful growth

For Qatar’s private sector, the roadmap opens a wider conversation about how investment can be both commercially attractive and purpose-driven. Food security is no longer only a defensive strategy against disruption; it is also a space for innovation, entrepreneurship, climate-smart technology, and cross-border growth.

Through this initiative, USQBC Doha and IFC are helping frame agrifood investment as a new frontier for Qatar’s global economic engagement; one where profit, resilience, and development impact can move together.