INT'L EXPERTS: 25 CHALLENGES FACE FOOD SECURITY IN YEMEN

SANA'A, Jan.17 (Saba) - The International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI)'s experts affirmed on Sunday that they have
identified 25 challenges facing food security in Yemen ,making use
of the household budget survey, which was conducted in 2004 and food
survey carried out by the World Food Program in Yemen in 2009.

This came during a workshop on the mid-term review of the national
strategy for food security, organized here by Ministry of Planning
and International Cooperation in coordination with the IFPRI and the
European Union (EU).

The workshop, opened by Minister of planning and International
Cooperation Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi, witnessed the launch of a digital
atlas on food security in Yemen.

In the workshop, al-Arhabi confirmed that there are efforts exerted
by the government in partnership with the Work Bank (WB), World Food
Organization and FAO International to develop a national strategy
for food security in Yemen according to the best global practices.

He pointed out that the global rise in food prices has represented
an alarm bell to push the government to take practical actions for
developing a national strategy for food security in Yemen.

The mid-term review of the national strategy for food security aims
to reviewing and upgrading the priorities at the level of sectors to
be adopted in the food security strategy document, al-Arhabi
indicated.

The experts considered that the main reasons for the low food
security indicators in Yemen during the years 2007-2008 are the
depletion of oil resources and the global rise in food prices, in
addition to the steady population growth rates.

The liquefied gas exports in Yemen would witness increasing in the
coming years, the experts expected stressing the importance of
exploiting potential opportunities in the non-oil economic sectors
such as tourism and fisheries.

They affirmed the importance of developing effective strategies
for grain storage and activating the trade food frameworks with the
countries of the region and reducing the cultivation of Qat, which
drains about 40 percent of the water resources of the country.

BA