YEMEN, WB DISCUSS ESTABLISHING QAT REGIONAL CENTRE

SANA'A, Jan. 19 (Saba) - Yemen and World Bank (WB) discussed here on
Tuesday the procedures pertaining to the establishment of a regional
centre for Qat in Yemen.

Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Mansour al-Hawshabi held
talks with Senior Institutional Development Specialist, Middle East
and North Africia Region Julie Viloria-Williams on the centre's
tasks, which will focus on spreading awareness of the significance
of reducing the cultivation of Qat in Yemen, which became a big
obstacle facing agricultural development.

The meeting dealt with the importance of establishing and supporting
the centre by the WB as well as its role in propping up the
government's efforts to decrease Qat's planting and its water
depletion.

Al-Hawshabi hailed the WB's role in supporting the agricultural
sector in Yemen and in enhancing its role to realize the food
security in Yemen, underlining the significance of the centre in
spreading awareness of Qat's risks.

For her part, the WB official noted that the WB is currently
preparing studies on identifying the requirements and priorities of
establishing the centre, on which the agricultural development in
Yemen will depends on.

It is worth to mention that Qat planting in Yemen increases yearly
at an average of 4,000 to 6,000 hectares, using about 30 percent of
the water resources allotted to agriculture.

The production and consumption of Qat have increased during the last
years. Qat competes with many food crops, particularly the cash
crops such as coffee and cotton.

According to agricultural census data, Yemen's production of Qat
rose from 118,207 tons of the total planted lands estimated to
122,843 hectares in 2004 to reach 165,668 tons from 146,810 hectares
at the end of 2008.

FJ/AF