Qat depletes scarce water resources; Wadi Al-Sahul's case

Dozens of water wells dried up over the last few years in different parts of the country despite the continuous attempts of their owners to deepen them and prolong their productivity. The critical shortage of water is recorded in areas famous for Qat cultivation.

Official statistics indicate that about 9 percent of Yemen's total farmland is cultivated with Qat trees, an evergreen, mildly stimulating and narcotic tree.  The total area cultivated with Qat rose to over 100,000 hectares in 2000 instead of just 8,000 hectares in 1970. It is estimated that about 14,622,000 work-hours are wasted every day taking care of the plant.

Though it needs a lot of water to grow, Qat can stand long periods of dryness. It grows in areas with moderate climate and us wide spread in Yemeni-midlands especially in Taiz, Ibb, Sana'a, Dhamar, Sa'ada and Hajjah. It is not that common in the southern governorates because it was banned under the Socialist regime that ruled south Yemen before 1990. It just exists in Yaf'e and Al-Dhal'e areas.

"I have two small plots of land and I grow Qat in them. Was not for Qat, I would not have lived," said a farmer boarding the bus and heading to the market to sell his production.

He added "If I plant corn, maize or other cereals, the two plots of lands I have not will be as productive as Qat as they will yield once a year, while you can pick many times and make more money in case you plant Qat."

Wadi Al-Sahul

Wadi Al-Sahul stretches over 20 km, starting at the lower part of Ibb City and ends at the foot of Sumara Mountain. The wadi used to produce corn, maize and other cereals.

The affluence of the area and generosity of its inhabitants prompted Yemen's wisest man Ali bin Zaid to name it as the place where people should go when trying to escape hunger and famine.

"If you were escaping death, none will escape it; however, if you were escaping hunger, then go to Sahul bin Naji," remarked Ali bin Zaid.

Over the last 30 years, cereals have been rivaled with qat trees especially in the wadi's lower parts. It is said that two-thirds of the wadi's total lands are planted with qat.

Planting cereals depended mostly on rain and surface water resources like streams. Of late, and with the introduction of Qat to the wadi, more people were tempted to cultivate lands with it particularly when they noticed that it makes more money than other crops and allow farmers to pick it around the year.

Noticing the change in Sahuli people's lives, others residing the nearby districts and mountainous area descended and bought themselves lands and cultivated them with Qat.

"Originally I am not from Al-Sahul and I came here during the early 1990s and after Yemenis' collective return from Saudi Arabia during the Second Gulf Crisis and just its aftermath," narrates Qat farmer Ali Musleh. "Upon my return, I had a small sum of money and I was planning to invest in a project from which I can support myself and my extended family. When finding Qat plantation to be lucrative, I decided to leave my land in Sumara Mountain and to come to Al-Sahul where I bought a big plot of land and planted it with Qat."

With more demand, streams started to run out of water and people resorted to drilling water wells and it was obtained at few meters from land surface. In the beginning, all drills were made manually; however, year after year, water has become dear and people restored to mechanical drilling reaching the depths of 100 to 150 m.   

Musleh assurs that he managed to make a lot of money from Qat plantation; however, his difficulties started a few years ago, when prices of oil and its derivatives rose, causing the owners of water wells to raise the bill of water used for irrigating qat trees coupled with its scarcity, noting that many owners resorted to deepen their wells and some reached the depths of 400 to 450 m.

He adds the owner of a well from which he irrigates his lands now charges him YR 3,000 for one-hour irrigation after he used to pay something between YR 1,000 to 1,500. He also hinted the current prices leave him a very small margin of profit, maintaining that there is no more productivity from the plant Qat. 

Qat farmer Abdullah Al-Awdi agrees with Musleh's statement and stresses that no all wells operating in his neighborhood are deepened for over 400 m after the owners found their wells produce less water per hour and some stopped to produce water.

Al-Awdi further stresses that the price hikes especially of diesel and operational expenses incurred on water well owners, caused them to raise irrigation charges. He adds that he used to irrigate his lands with around 10 hours and now he needs more hours and with higher charges.

"I made about YR 500,000 after picking the grown Qat; however, I paid the well owner YR 400,000 and most of the remaining amount was given in daily expenses for workers who picked and marketed it. Now I am left with no money and my year-long work has been in vain," laments Al-Awdi.   

He goes on to say that wells are going to run out of water over the coming few years and the owners will continue their deepening efforts until they can find no water at all, stressing that state should interfere to stop the irrational waste of water resources especially when we are living in a country suffering from its critical shortage.