World Bank wants Qat information center (Yemen Observer)

Yemen and World Bank (WB) discussed on Tuesday the procedures pertaining to the establishment of a regional center for Qat in Yemen.

 Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Mansour al-Hawshabi held talks with Senior Institutional Development Specialist, Middle East and North Africa Region Julie Viloria-Williams on the center’s tasks, which will focus on spreading awareness of the significance of reducing the cultivation of Qat in Yemen, which became a big obstacle facing agricultural development.

The meeting dealt with the importance of establishing and supporting the center by the WB as well as its role in propping up the government's efforts to decrease Qat's planting and its water depletion.

Al-Hawshabi hailed the WB's role in supporting the agricultural sector in Yemen and in enhancing its role to realize the food security in Yemen, underlining the significance of the center in spreading awareness of Qat's risks.

The WB official noted that the WB is currently preparing studies on identifying the requirements and priorities of establishing the center, on which the agricultural development in Yemen will depends on.

It is worth to mention that Qat planting in Yemen increases yearly at an average of 4,000 to 6,000 hectares, using about 30 percent of the water resources allotted to agriculture.

The production and consumption of Qat have increased during the last years. Qat competes with many food crops, particularly the cash crops such as coffee and cotton.

According to agricultural census data, Yemen's production of Qat rose from 118,207 tons of the total planted lands estimated to 122,843 hectares in 2004 to reach 165,668 tons from 146,810 hectares at the end of 2008.

Yemen Observer