By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2023-09-13

The Yemeni government is seeking to expand the cultivation of cereals and other cash crops that contribute to improving food security, to address the steep deterioration of the country's agricultural sector.

"The high prices of raw materials in agriculture led to an increase in the cost of production," said farmer Adel Farea of Sanaa's Bani Matar district.

This increase in cost, along with other hardships resulting from the war initiated by the Iran-backed Houthis, has left farmers "unable to continue to grow crops that generate good income for us," he told Al-Fassel.

Farea said his farm used to produce strawberries, a crop that was in high demand.

"But producing a strawberry crop under these circumstances requires redoubled efforts and additional workers, in addition to fertilizer, the cost of which has increased fivefold since the war began," he said.

"So, I replaced strawberries with potatoes."

"Growing potatoes is easier and more cost-effective, although this crop has lower economic and market value," he said. "But it makes it possible for me at the present time to continue to provide food for my five children."

Another farmer, Abdullah Ali, told Al-Fassel his farm produces only wheat and relies on rainwater for irrigation.

"This causes production to vary in terms of quantity and quality from one season to another, depending on the amount of rain and the regularity of rainfall during the usual [rainy] seasons," he said.

Ali recalled a time when his farm used to produce approximately "one hundred 50kg bags of wheat per season."

Production has since dropped to a third of that amount, he said, as a result of "the increase in the cost of production and raw materials due to the war."

Increased food insecurity

Food insecurity is increasing, Yemen's Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Marwan Noman said during an August 3 high-level Security Council session on conflict-caused famine and food insecurity.

Yemen's economy has contracted by half as a result of the war and the continued Houthi threat and attacks on vital economic facilities and oil ports, he said.

As a result of the Houthis' coup and accelerating climate change, Yemen has fallen behind in many sectors, he added, particularly investment in the improvement of agricultural infrastructure and rural development.

Investment in these areas would address the root causes of food insecurity.

Noman called on specialized international organizations and agencies to actively support small farmers in Yemen, who constitute 70% of the population.

In a meeting held July 7 in Rome, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries Salem al-Soqtari discussed the government's plan to develop the agricultural sector with UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director Qu Dongyu.

He said the plan's prioritizes grain cultivation to reduce the wheat import bill.

War destroys agricultural areas

War has laid waste to many agricultural areas in Yemen, especially along the contact line between the warring sides, said Sanaa University professor Abdullah Nasher of the university's Faculty of Agriculture.

Landmines also have wreaked havoc on farms and farmers with devastating effects on their lives and sustenance, he told Al-Fassel.

"The effects of the war on the agricultural sector are reflected in the drop in the import of production raw materials, including fertilizers, and the significant increase in their prices," Nasher said.

At the same time, he said, climate change has affected farmers "through the changes in the planting seasons and changes in the rainfall periods."

Heavy rain falling in non-agricultural seasons renders the rain useless for irrigation, with the resulting flooding also sweeping away farms that were a source of livelihood for many farmers, he said.

Yemenis have been dealt successive blows that have worsened their food security, economist Abdul Aziz Thabet told Al-Fassel.

First, he said, "the Houthis ignited the war that has raged from 2015 to date."

Then, climate change has "caused floods and hurricanes in the southern and eastern provinces and devastated the agricultural sector's infrastructure," he added.

And the Russian-Ukrainian war has led to the stoppage of wheat exports from these two countries, from which Yemen used to import about 46% of its total wheat needs.

Together, these factors eroded production sectors, "especially the agricultural sector, which left farmers unable to provide food for their families," he said.

Land reclamation projects

"The cultivated area in Yemen shrunk to 1.154 million hectares in 2020, from 1.6 million hectares in 2010, due to the war," economist Fares al-Najjar told Al-Fassel.

This led to a drop in the agricultural sector's contribution to Yemen's gross domestic product (GDP), he said.

The consequences of the war include the rise in prices of production raw materials imported from abroad, in addition to the sharp rise in fuel prices, he said.

"This increases the cost of production and places heavy burdens on farmers, and forces them to abandon agriculture because of their inability to come up with the money needed to buy fuel to irrigate their farms."

Al-Najjar noted that the UN Development Program (UNDP) recently implemented a project to build water tanks and improve irrigation canals.

He said similar projects are being implemented by the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen, the Emirati Red Crescent, AGFUND and the Selah Foundation for Development.

These range from well drilling using solar power to the distribution of agricultural machinery.

Al-Najjar said the Ministry of Agriculture seeks to direct support towards projects that support the agricultural sector as well as nature reserves.