By: Moneer Al-Omari
Qat badly affects health; however, there has been no systematic study
into the risks of Qat on health. It was revealed recently that Qat
treated with pesticides is a key factor in the increased numbers of
cancer in Yemen.
Specialists reveal that there are over 20,000 cases of cancer in Yemen
and the number is on the increase. Again, they could not deny that Qat
is directly connected with new diseases that were unknown before, partly
because of using hazardous pesticides to make speedy growth of Qat
leaves.
However, this report relates to the Qat economies and how it badly
affects the country's economic plans and water reserves, especially when
over seven million Yemenis chew Qat and the number increases rapidly.
New numbers of women and children join the list of Qat chewers. It is
estimated that one third of Yemenis chew Qat and spend, on average, six
hours per day. Similarly, an average Qat chewer will spend about YR 600
(some $3) per day to buy Qat. In addition, about YR 200 is spent on
buying beverages and cigarettes.
Qat disastrously affects the Yemeni economy especially in matters
relating to wasted hours, bribery, etc. and this is admitted by several
public servants who reveal that they are forced to take money from
people in return for the services they render, which are supposed to be
offered for free.
There have been different attempts to root out Qat from the country;
however, they yielded insignificant results. Instead, the country has
seen more expansion in Qat plantation, particularly in valleys famous in
the past for producing the finest types of coffee or corn and other
cereals.
During the early 1970s, the Yemeni former Prime Minister Muhsen Al-Aini
was the first to issue directives for rooting out Qat trees; however,
people were not ready then to put these directives into practice and few
lands in his homeland were eliminated of Qat and no more.
Inaugurating the workshop of "Economies of Qat Production and Marketing
in Yemen", the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Mansour Al-Hawshabi
pointed out that Qat has turned to be the biggest challenge for
agricultures and food security in the country especially, when its
consumption is increasing markedly. Such an increase in Qat consumption
is set against increases in its produced and marketed quantities.
Al-Hawshabi stressed the importance that there should be alternatives
and solutions that could help the state reduce areas planted with Qat
which have been on rise over the last few years.
In this regards, he revealed that the area planted with Qat mounted to
reach 141,000 hectares of lands that were planted in the past with
coffee and cereals, especially when the country is in a dire need for
each hectare as it can secure part of people's food needs.
"These figures and statistics should be directed to cash crops to
substitute Qat, so that it can help reduce the food gap we are suffering
now, especially when over 70 percent of consumed wheat and other cereals
as well as meats and oils are imported from abroad," said Al-Hawshabi.
Further, Al-Hawshabi pointed out that 80 percent of pesticides are
imported and used for Qat plantation. Farmers use pesticides and
fertilizers to help make Qat leaves grow faster.
Though Al-Hawshabi mentioned that 30 percent of underground water
resources are used for Qat plantation, experts disclose that about
two-thirds of Yemen's underground water has been consumed on Qat
plantation.
Al-Hawshabi added that resorting to the alternative crops will help
bridge food gap between imports and exports and further raise the
contribution of the agricultural sector in the GDP estimated to be 18 to
20 percent at the present time.
For his part, the Food and Agriculture Organization representative
Hashim Al-Shami hinted that demand pointers over Qat are rising in a way
that threatens that future of agriculture and food security in Yemen.
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