Yemen Chewers Spend $ 7 Million on Khat a Day: Yemeni people spend about $ 7 million a day on khat, a stimulus tree chewed by 75 per cent of males, compared to 33 per cent of women, an official has said.

Launching a campaign to raise awareness among school students about the risks of khat sponsored by the Anti-Khat Al-Najat Foundation in Sana’a, advisor to Minister for Public Health and Population Abdul Wahab Al-Anesi said there is a misconception among Yemeni students that khat helps to get higher educational attainment.

We are here to correct this misconception and to tell you[the students] frankly that students who chew khat usually don’t do well on exams, he said.

The campaign aims to raise awareness among students about khat risks on their future as well as introducing them to how they can contribute to fighting the tree.

Khat has many effects on the lives of the Yemeni people, as analysts say that the cultivation of khat trees consumes twice the amount of water used by citizens and occupies the largest part of arable land.

In recent years, the government has adopted many programmes to limit the cultivation of khat trees amid warnings it is affecting the country’s scarce water resources.

Reuters: Farmers, 70 percent of the population, can no longer subsist on their own crops. Youths are flocking from the countryside to the cities in search of jobs to provide for their families.

“Food is not going from country to city here, but from city to country,” said Gerhard Lichtentaeler of the German development agency GTZ, adding water shortages had made it impossible to sustain farming in many areas. The water table is falling one to five meters a year due to over-extraction.

One in three of Yemen’s 23 million people struggle with food insecurity, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which is advising the government.

More will go hungry in future, with the population growing at 3 percent a year and water running out. Sanaa is set to be the first capital city to run dry, by 2050, experts predict.

By then, IFPRI expects global cereal prices to have risen 39 to 62 percent even without the impact of climate change, which may raise prices by an extra 32 to 111 percent. Yemen imports at least 70 percent of its food.

“The problem is we (villagers) are already relying now on imported wheat,” Masajidi said. “Corn is just for basic needs.”

Wheat costs Yemenis up to $250 per tonne and rising prices will raise tensions in a heavily armed society where almost half the population lives on $2 a day or less.

Climate change is one more strain on the Arabian Peninsula state. The cash-strapped government has to cope with a southern secessionist movement, preserve a shaky truce with northern Shi’ite rebels and fight a resurgent wing of al Qaeda.

Unemployment is soaring in Yemen’s oil-export based economy and oil resources ebbing.

“This (food shortage) could cause regime collapse and state failure … The government will lose its advantage of providing food and economic support to the people,” said Ibrahim Sharqieh, a Yemen expert at the Brookings Center in Doha.

CRACKING THE HABIT

The government has set out a plan to improve agriculture, which accounts for 90 percent of water use, and diversify it away from cultivation of qat, a mild narcotic leaf which dominates life in Yemen.

But Lichtentaeler, who calls drought-resistant qat a “coping crop” for poor farmers struggling to make ends meet, worries that while qat growing should be discouraged, agricultural diversification may take Yemen in the wrong direction.

“We (GTZ) are actually asking them to reduce their agriculture. They need to create jobs,” he said.

Experts agree Yemen will never be able to grow all its own food. And farming diverts precious water resources — already a source of conflict between Yemenis — which will be vital for household and industrial use in the future.

“It isn’t necessarily a good thing to think about producing more food. The population is rising so fast there’s no way to create food self-sufficiency. We need to create a diversified economy,” Lichtentaeler said.

Food security, experts say, can be attained by developing an economy that generates enough income to pay for food imports. Manufacturing and mining have been suggested as alternatives to farming. Tourism in Yemen, with its traditional architecture and jagged mountains, could also generate jobs and hard currency earnings.

But such plans, which need heavy private investment, can seem fanciful in the face of Yemen’s daunting security problems.

One option that requires no investment, but carries high risks for politicians, is cutting fuel subsidies that are among the highest in the world, says Clemens Breisinger of IFPRI.

Fuel subsidies cost the government about $150 per Yemeni per year, Breisinger said.

“You can imagine that if you just give that money to every Yemeni, particularly those with food security concerns, you would have eradicated part of the problem already,” he said.

Without a change in strategy, Lichtentaeler warns, Yemen could face food riots or violence: “If they don’t diversify, people will become poorer and poorer. Then it’s a disaster.”

Ambassador Feierstein meets the people of Amran

US Embassy press release October 26, 2010

On October 26, U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein visited Amran City to discuss with government officials, journalists, teachers and youth how the United States can assist the people of Amran in overcoming the development challenges in their province.

Ambassador Feierstein met with Governor Kahlan Mujahed Abu Shawarib, visited a primary school supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, took a walking tour of the beautiful and historic old city of Amran, spoke with students at Amran University, visited a cement factory, and conducted a roundtable with local journalists. During these meetings, he reiterated the support of the United States for the Yemeni government and people’s efforts to improve the quality of education and health services and to address security issues in Yemen.

The visit underscored the long and productive partnership between the United States and the people of Amran.

Water scarcity, population growth and internal conflicts are major reasons for food insecurity in Yemen, a recent report has said, warning if immediate action is not taken, food security will remain at extremely low levels until 2010 and the country will be vulnerable for external shocks and disasters.
The report issued by the Institute of Food Research (IFR) noted that food insecurity is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

About 37.3 per cent of the people in the countryside against 17.7 per cent of the people in the urban areas suffer from food insecurity, it said, adding that two reasons were behind the different rates: water scarcity and the lack of rain. Yemen was classified in 2009 as one of the driest countries in the world and with one of the world’s highest rates of population.

Furthermore, the report revealed that 32.1 per cent of the Yemeni population has insufficient food to meet their requirements, placing Yemen among the ten world countries suffering from extreme food insecurity.
Officially, the Central Organization for Auditing and Control said Yemen has been facing constant decrease in crops production since 2007 due to internal conflicts, water dwindling and increasing qat cultivation.
Also, a Shura member said that 70 per cent of the arable land in Yemen is planted with qat and that Yemen imports 2.5 tonnes of wheat a year.

Yahya Al-Habari said immigration from the countryside to the cities are mainly blamed for deteriorating food security in the country. Owing to water scarcity, farmers move to the urban areas searching for jobs and then Yemen largely relies on imported corps, he added.

Border guards kill qat smuggler HARADH, Nov. 04 (Saba) – A Yemeni qat smuggler has been shot dead by Saudi border guards while trying to smuggle qat leaves, which is banned in Saudi Arabia, across the Yemeni-Saudi border,

Interior Ministry reported on Wednesday that Yemen’s security authorities of Hajjah province have delivered the body of the man, 21, to his family.

Though it is not banned in Yemen, qat is strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia, which considers as a narcotic.

On the sea… They are reporting it as a French warship in the Arabic Elaf, and recently Yemen’s official media stated an investigation showed France shot down a civilian airliner although that is improbable.

1 dead as Anti-Piracy Forces attack Yemeni boat

SANA’A, Nov. 04 (Saba) – A Yemeni fishermen has been killed and three others wounded after their boat was attacked by international forces combating piracy off Somalia, the Interior ministry said on Wednesday.

According to the ministry’s information center, Nooh Salim Dolv, 23, was killed by a bullet fired from a warship that belonged to the forces and which was in Somalia over the last two days.

The center quoted the crew of the Yemeni boat who have arrived in Mukalla in southern Yemen that three other fishermen were hurt in the attack.

An investigation was launched into the incident.

A number of Yemeni fishermen were killed and others inured by international forces fighting Somali pirates in the Arabian and Red Seas since the forces were dispatched into the region amid soaring piracy.

Early this year, many fishermen complained about harassment and provocation they faced while fishing by the forces.

SANAA, 16 August 2009 (IRIN) – Water and sanitation companies in Yemen are adopting unprecedented water rationing in major cities including the capital Sanaa, Taiz, Mukalla, al-Beidha, al-Dhalea and Lahj, local council officials said.

Urgent action is needed to halt depletion of the country’s water resources, Abdulqader Hanash, deputy minister for water affairs, told IRIN. Some 90 percent of available water is used for agriculture, leaving just 10 percent for industrial and household use, he said. Specialists have said before that 40 percent of Yemen’s agricultural water consumption can be attributed to the cultivation of Qat – a mild narcotic plant.

Hanash explained that the ministry was taking steps to stop the proliferation of wells which exacerbated groundwater depletion; it was also helping citizens to switch to less water-dependent produce and farming techniques.

“We expect the international community and donors to provide further funding to allow the ministry to implement its water strategies,” he added.

A report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) says Yemen is under “serious water stress”.

The World Bank considers a country to be water scarce if there are less than 1,000 m³ of renewable internal freshwater resources available per capita. The global average is about 6,750 m³ of water per capita. All Arab countries bar Lebanon and Comoros are well below the water scarcity level. Yemen has about 200 m³ per capita – just 3 percent of the global average.

UNDP study

Photo: Adel Yahya/IRIN
Drivers wait at Al-Suhaini Well, near Al-Saleh Mosque in Sanaa, for three to fours hours to have their trucks filled with water

A UN Development Programme (UNDP) study of Arab countries in 2007 said Yemen had the second highest percentage of population without access to safe water (after Comoros) – 33 percent – just over double the Arab average.

Environmental specialist Mohammed al-Ariqi said Yemen’s water deficit was growing at 5 percent per year – the same rate as annual population growth. A new water source has been discovered recently in Hadhramaut but its impact on the country’s overall water needs has not yet been assessed.

In al-Ariqi’s book Water: Reality & Vision, al-Ariqi said Yemen’s water deficit in 2000 was 900 million m³; 700 million m³ in 1995; and 400 million m³ in 1990. His latest figures, for 2005, put the country’s water deficit at 1.28 billion m³.

Worst province, city

Al-Beidha, with a population of 300,000, is the country’s most water-scare province, according to Mohammed al-Aidarous, a local councillor there. Water in al-Beidha costs more because it takes three to four hours to transport it by truck from the nearest water source. “The majority of the province’s artesian wells have dried up because of frequent droughts coupled with excessive consumption by farmers growing qat,” he said.

Abdulwahab Almujahed, head of water and environment at the Social Fund for Development, said that Taiz city suffers the worst water shortages in the country with citizens receiving municipal water once every 45 days on average. Compounding the shortages problem was the fact that having long intervals without water running through the pipes causes contamination, he said.

“The Taiz-based Local Water and Sanitation Corporation continues to connect more households to an empty supply network. However, it should first look for water sources before expanding the network,” Almujahed told IRIN. “The corporation should provide tanks to citizens to harvest rainwater, which they can use during the drought season.”

Almujahed added that Dhamar, 100km south of Sanaa and with a population of nearly 120,000, has the cleanest water supply in Yemen because it is available almost every day.

Price hikes

Photo: Adel Yahya/IRIN
Women and children collect water from a tap at Al-Rahabi Mosque in Sanaa

To get a large truck-load of water (3,600 litres) delivered in Sanaa has gone up in the past month from US$7.5 to US$12.5, according to Abdulkarim Al-Ghashm, an employee at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“Our household has received no water for 21 days, so I turned to buying water from trucks… In the past month, I bought water four times, costing me YR10,000 [$50] – nearly one-third of my monthly salary.”

Mahdi al-Sukhaini, owner of an artesian well near al-Saleh mosque in Sanaa, attributed the problem to severe drought: “Many artesian wells have dried up,” he told IRIN.

He also complained of a lack of fairness in the water rationing system, with some parts of Sanaa not getting water for up to 15-20 days at a time.

Khalid al-Kharbi, a water resources manager in the Sanaa-based Local Water and Sanitation Corporation, admitted there was a problem, saying “houses near the main tanks receive water at more frequent intervals than houses further away.”

He said the company was looking at ways of alleviating the situation: the digging of 1,000-metre deep wells around the city, desalination projects in the Red Sea, and tapping into new water sources in the Empty Quarter. The main problem in all cases was lack of funding, he said.

“Thirty years ago water was found in the Sanaa basin at a depth of 20-30 metres, but now we have to go down 300-400 metres,” al-Kharbi said, warning that Sanaa could run out of water in the next 15-20 years.

According to al-Kharbi, only 52 percent of Sanaa’s two million people are connected to the municipal water supply network.

Yemen – Most pesticides coming to Yemen for Qat
Qat tree is behind importing tons of illegal pesticides yearly to the country, said General Manager of Agricultural Guidance Department Dr. Mansour al-Aqel.

He made it clear that Qat consumes 80 percent of imported pesticides while the other 20 percent are used for agricultural crops topped by cucumber. But he affirmed that other agricultural crops (like wheat) do not contain pesticides.

“Yemen uses the less quantities of pesticides (comparing to other countries) and if the country could get rid of Qat tree, pesticides will be finished,” said al-Aqel, who shoulders importers and Ministry of Agriculture the responsibility of importing pesticides.

He said that Yemen suffers from illegal accumulated pesticides in stores in some governorates. Despite that the country has spent a lot of money to finish the problem, it is still unsolved and needs cooperation from all concerned bodies.

Pesticides are needed for more production

However, General Manager of Plant Protection Abdullah Al-Sayani said that pesticides are one of important factors of agricultural production. No country can do without them, even the United States, despite its very high techniques used in agricultural sector.

He said the exiting quantities of pesticides are 500 tons and the country yearly needs of pesticides are 1000-1500 tons. “We have faced criticism of importing pesticides and criticism if we imported few quantities because restricting import will lead to import more pesticides illegally.”

Illegal pesticides are dangerous problem

“We counted 51 tons of illegal pesticides inside stores in several governorates,” said Chairman of Corplife Yemen Organization Dr. Ahmad el-Aghil.

He added that there are even greater quantities have been released legally and illegally, warning that accumulating these pesticides in stores is great and terrible problem and that the new laws issued by the government to ban re-exporting stored and expired pesticides via the country’s outlets are making this problem more awful because these laws oppose process of getting rid of these pesticides.

In a workshop organized last Tuesday by CropLife Yemen, in cooperation with Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, el-Aghil made it clear that there are only 17 percent of original pesticides in Yemen and the other types are 46 percent are fake and 37 percent are illegal.

Two weeks ago a team of experts from Corplife organization paid field visits to several stores of pesticides in governorates of Taiz, Amran and Sana’a to evaluate these pesticides and count them. But they could not reach areas which have more stores like Sa’ada for security reasons.

These pesticides are coming to the country via Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Djibouti. Dhamar, Taiz and Dhale’a are the greatest areas contain illegal pesticides because controlling and inspection process are absent in these areas.

Pesticides’ stores in populated areas

According to eyewitness who was accompanying CorpLife team in their field visits, there is a store in Taiz containing large quantities of expired pesticides and there is a very bad smell emanating from it. This store is located in populated area where people began suffering chest problems like difficulty of aspiration and some of them are in-patients in nearby hospitals.

This problem is not only found in Taiz, sorrowfully there are many stores in Sho’ub, heavy populated area in the center of the Capital Sana’a. “We have addressed this issue with Mayor of the Capital and governors to distance these stores outside cities,” said al-Aqel.

There are also stores of pesticides closed by concerned bodies over accusations of containing illegal pesticides. Some of these stores contain expired pesticides causing very bad smell and health problem in these areas.

“We suggest using these pesticides under sponsorship of the ministry to save the country millions of Rials to import pesticide,” said Al-Sayani.

Empty bottles another problem

Because of absence of enlightenment on dealing with empty bottles of pesticides or refills in Yemen, el-Aghil said there are more than 15 million empty bottles counted yearly in the country and there means for getting rid of them are absent.

Observers say that empty bottles pose dangerous effects on the long run, saying that due to backwardness and absence of enlightenment, people in rural areas use these bottles as tools for home use. They use them for carrying water or as containers to house things.

We have suggested distributing burners to farmers, said el-Aghil.” We aimed to distribute 500 burners to farmers to get rid of empty bottles. Every farmer can install a burner in his farm and collect these bottles and burn them (inside special barrel assigned to this purpose).”

While experts say these burners are not enough to get rid of effects of these pesticides, el-Aghil said the best way is having great burners with high technology like those existing in industrial countries like France or to be collected and then sent to these countries to be burned.

Dangerous diseases because of pesticides

A recent scientific study on pesticides made by Aden University says that there are more than 118 types of pesticides entering Yemen. All these types are used by Qat farmers for more production.

According to medical tests made by ministry of health, cancer centers and Charitable Society for Cancer Patients, these pesticides are responsible on 70 percent of cancer cases in the country, said the study, indicating that mouth cancer is widely spread in Yemen in contradiction to world statistics.

The study says 92.5 percent of farmers use these and other dangerous pesticides, noting that more than 470 poisonous cases of men and women have been registered in three governorates because of exposing to pesticides wastes in period ranging from one day to several.

The study concluded that pesticides have dangerous effects on the long rang on those who deal with them daily. They cause chronic diseases like cancer, psychological and genetic changes, liver and kidney diseases, in addition to polluting the soil which leads to water pollutions.

Efforts for getting rid of pesticides

After field visits, this workshop was held to discus the problem of storing pesticides and accumulating illegal pesticides in these stores. The workshop gathered all concerned parities dealing with pesticides; importers, officials of Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, security officials, judiciary and officials of Custom Authority to discuss the problem and find solutions to get rid of them.

The ministry is currently implementing many measures to limit pesticides smuggling, said al-Sayani. Smuggling during the recent two years has increased because of monopolizing importing by few companies. Now the door is open for importing pesticides under the ministry’s supervision. This helps reduce importation of illegal pesticides.

Meanwhile, el-Aghil argued the government to coordinate efforts with neighboring countries to get rid of these pesticides. He also demanded establishing a court for quick cases to settle the great issues associated with pesticides. There are stores closed by the government because they have illegal pesticides so that having specialized courts will help the country get rid of them.

Concerning the 20 tons of expired pesticides stored in some stores of merchants across the country, he said there is coordination between the organization, the merchants and ministry of agriculture and irrigation to make solutions to this issue, saying there is future program with the ministry to stopped accumulating them. He said that CropLife has closed 400 pesticides factories in China.

However, he stated that Yemen is less country importing pesticides. But the problem is that the farmers use pesticides more on some plants like Qat while pesticides are not used on crops like wheat that is why Yemen’s production of such crops still limited.

There are 57 tons of illegal pesticides are stopped by the ministry in Yemeni borders with Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They must be returned directly to get rid of them, said al-Aqle

He said the Yemeni-Saudi Joint Technical Ministerial Committee approved in its recent meeting they will not allow any pesticides crossing the borders without permission from the ministry.

CropLife International is a global federation representing the plant science industry and a network of regional and national associations in 91 countries.

CropLife Yemen has been established in 2004. It works on educating people on save use of pesticides.

The military, ministries, security forces etc. function as fiefdoms and are beyond control of the central government, which is also why the reforms never get implemented and development projects fail time after time. Because of corruption and the complete lack of accountability, different parts of the government go in different directions and compete with each other and, in sum, produce an overall irrational outcome. Saleh could never make peace, he didn’t have the capacity (assuming he was sincere) because the military had an agenda of its own.

Arguably the most serious impediment was that both
mediation efforts and steps announced by the government
to calm the situation were either undermined by
accompanying repressive measures or, more simply,
not implemented at all.149 This partly resulted from
competing approaches between the political leadership
and army command. According to a Zaydi scholar who
participated in unofficial mediation efforts, “when the
president called for mediation, the army did not always
cooperate. Mediation efforts would have succeeded
had there been a consensus between the politicians and
the army. Instead, they were sabotaged by disagreement”.
150 This claim was supported by different participants
and independent observers. Another mediator
offered an example of government branches working
at cross-purposes:

So now extrapolate that lack of central control of the military and the security forces to the issues of terrorism and organized crime, and what do you get – a mafia with an airforce and military commanders training terrorists in military camps. This too one day will be documented.

Update: Yemen Post: Man wounded as police destroy his home with bulldozers.

Update 2: ISPN:

“Qat is a major source of tax revenue and the centre of all corruption in Yemen. Over 50 percent of tax revenue is derived from qat, but this is only about a third of the real revenue it generates. Everyone from farmers to the highest officials is involved in the qat trade and taking money under the table.”

While the government makes broad statements about its intention to reduce the consumption and cultivation of the narcotic plant, any genuine effort is thwarted from within, he adds. “Much of the crop is actually grown on government land, so officials involved will block any attempt to reduce its market.”

Its the same configuration over and over in every area including the political realm, corporate, security, basic services, development and terrorism. There is no single government, only multiple actors deploying state power and resources for a variety of ends.

(As a side note, Im so happy the report documents that, NO, the Houthi prisoners were never released- since 2005- despite at least 25 government announcments to the contrary. The regime arrested its own fact finding committee, and so on. Its a good report. You can’t imagine the incredible flack I got in 2005 for writing that 68,000 Sa’ada residents were displaced by the war; by 2008 the number was 130,000. Hopefully there will be some changes now as the truth is better documented by both CGO and Human Rights Watch. My photo essay of destruction in Sa’ada is at Bill’s. You can see, there really needs to be some changes.)

YO 5/22,

Hafez Mayad, the Chairman of the board of Cooperative and Agricultural Credit bank (CAC Bank) confirmed that Yemeni officials, sheikhs, and well-known people are indebted YR5 billion to CAC Bank. He said that during the press conference, held last Wednesday during the ceremony for the launching of their e-banking product.

Mayad stated that this indebt came as result of the absence of follow up mechanisms in the previous time. He clarified those people (plunderers as he called them) who are indebted to CAC bank are the main factor of its failure. Mayad was responding to claims by Mps that the CAC Bank abandoned its main role related to support agricultural sector.

He said that CAC Bank will not be a resource of enrichment for plunderers anymore.
In terms of implementing government policy related to supporting the agricultural sector, Mayad said, “We work on supporting this sector by governmental money only, not by money of depositors. I mean that it is not allowed for any one to use money of depositors to support any one.”

The e-banking product is a banking system which allows you to make most of your banking transactions at anytime wherever you are through the internet, Mayad said. CAC Bank international e-banking is considered to be the first system in Yemen and in the Middle East which generates different functionality related to banking services, high technology and security, Mayad said.

Mayad said CAC Bank occupied the first rank in the financing of economic sectors during 2008 according to the report issued by Central Bank of Yemen, achieving the growth rate of 46.5 percent and contributed to the financing of the economic sector by 35.6 percent at the level of the banking sector.

Yemen Post

A parliamentary report showed that the total agricultural land in Yemen increased to 490032 hectares in 2007, 13.8% more than in 2006. 141163 hectares of this land planted with khat, an increase of 3.9% compared to 2006.

According to the report prepared by the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee in the parliament, the total production of the seven crops, grains, vegetables, fruits, cash crops, fodder, beans, and khat was 5070490 tons. 2027238 tons of these amounts were khat and fodder, 14.3% more than in 2006. The total production of the six varieties of livestock; red meat, white meat, milk, leather, wool, and honey was 476987 tons, an increase of 10% compared to 2006.

Egg production reached1031 million eggs in 2007, an increase of 5.6% compared to the year before. 18 million 862 thousand 373 was the total number of the production of the four types of cattle, sheep, goats, cattle, and camels, an increase of 4.5%.

The report pointed out that the production of improving seeds of cereals and potatoes reached 4018 tons in 2007 while the production of seedlings of fruit, olives, and coffee was 489980, an increase of 4.5% compared to 2006. The private sector production of seedlings, however, was 181855 seedlings, a 34% drop compared to 2006. The report added that cotton crop was planted in each of Hodeidah and Lahj governorates in an area of 14 thousand. The report mentioned that 572506 cattle were vaccinated against plague and smallpox and other diseases across the provinces, an increase of 34%, in addition to treating and spraying 42667cattel in Saada and Haja governorates.

The report added that during 2007, 42490 consignments of plants for export were prepared, 320140 tones, an increase of 18%, in addition to 4546 consignments, 202603 tons, for importation, a drop of 92% compared to 2006. Fighting diseases of trees including palm trees increased to reach1952236 trees, 11.8% more than in 2006