Yemeni farmers cultivate wheat amid import issues

STORY: Yemen imports 90 percent of its wheat requirements – but farmers have now resorted to cultivating their own.

This is amid disruption to global wheat supplies due to the invasion of Ukraine and an export ban from India.

Yemeni farmer Abdo Mohsn Sinan explains how the country has had to adapt, as it relies on Russia and Ukraine for 42% of all wheat imports:

“As a result of the Ukrainian crisis, people who never planted crops before have now started to cultivate (wheat) in their lands. They paid no mind to this before, and used to buy imported wheat or Canadian wheat. But now people are making use of their lands, which is better than relying on imports.”

This uncertainty around wheat imports risks deepening Yemen's hunger crisis and pushing up food price inflation - that has already doubled in just two years in some parts of the country.

The government launched a project to plant more than 6 thousand additional acres in different areas with wheat this year.

Large-scale local production of wheat in Yemen is challenging as irrigation water is scarce, and infrastructure to make use of rainfall is lacking.

Nevertheless, locals are calling for government support for their wheat planting initiatives and hope to one day reach self-sufficiency.

Yemen remains grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis that has left millions hungry in the eight-year conflict that divided the country and wrecked the economy.

Data from the United Nations indicates that over 17 million Yemenis need food assistance.