Qat cultivation displaces food crops in parched Yemen

A khat or qat bush, Catha edulis, in a field. Picture: 123RF/zosimus

Qat can earn three times the revenue of any other crop but the steady cash flow comes at a heavy price. The bitter-tasting plant requires deep-well irrigation and disproportionate use of water, worsening Yemen’s water scarcity problem. Amid the uncertainties of war, cultivating qat has advantages, taking just a few months to reach harvest. Fruit trees take three to five years. And a qat crop is harvested several times a year, while fruit is harvested only once a year.

One recent report forecast that the East Mediterranean and Middle East will see temperatures rising nearly twice as fast as the global average, with overall warming of up to 5°C or more by the end of the century.

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