On any given afternoon in Yemen, many men sit, drive or walk the streets with a tennis ball-sized wad of qat in one cheek, looking at first glance like they desperately need a dentist. Yemenis settle down to chew its leaves for the next four, six or even 10 hours. Qat, or catha edulis, has become the national pastime in this poor Arab country of 19 million, but one many experts say is ravaging Yemen's frail economy and sucking up precious water. Qat Yemen's biggest cash crop by far; just 22,002 tonnes of its nearest rival, cotton, were produced in 2006. Sanaa is running out of water and Yemen imports a lot of food because they mostly grow qat. Yemen already faces water shortages, partly due to qat, and these are set to worsen as the population grows by over 3 percent a year. Yemen is one of the poorest countries outside Africa, so people see in qat-chewing an escape from their tough lives and in qat-selling a source of much-needed income. The Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry admits it long ignored the problem, but it has recently begun to distribute substitute crops for free and subsidise their irrigation. It is pushing to ban qat cultivation in some areas suited to grain.

Source: Reuters, 29 May 2007

Tags: water resources management