On a recent trip to Yemen I was fascinated by a plant that has such a noticeably impact on the country’s culture, economy, politics and people’s way of life – the treasured Qat plant.
The leaf of the Qat plant (pronounced Kat) is chewed daily in Yemen by most men, a large proportion of women, and by some children. The leaves are chewed and subsequently stored in an accumulated mass in the side of the mouth and the effects include wakefulness, a dreamy sense of well being, and an increased talkative nature.
Qat is a sociable drug (although Yemenis protest its narcotic classification) and its preferred environment is in a room-with-a-view with friends, but can also be consumed on the go by those who are busy. Taking a taxi late in the evening with a driver who has been chewing for 8 hours can be interesting to say the least – I wouldn’t recommend bike taxis in the evenings either (a friend has the bruises to back up that advice).
Although Qat is not exclusively a Yemeni phenomenon – the plant is also consumed in Somalia, Djibouti, southern Saudi Arabia and even in Wales according to a Yemeni friend – it is in Yemen where the plant is most at home and where it seems to be causing the most problems.
When describing problems in the country’s judicial system, the Yemen Times noted that, “The average Judge’s salary is barely sufficient to meet housing, Qat, and food expenditures. All other basic expenditures and any ‘extras’ have to be paid from a non-salary source”. While this highlights Yemen’s judicial corruption well it also demonstrates a national mentality that places Qat’s importance on par with food and housing. In fact, for many who can’t afford all of the above, Qat is rarely found at the bottom and it is not uncommon to see the utterly destitute with a surprisingly healthy amount of Qat by their side. For a Yemeni male on the average wage and chewing an average amount of Qat, the activity will consume a third of their daily income.
Qat cultivation also has a worrying effect on the country’s water supply especially in the areas in and around the country’s capital, Sana’a. The World Bank has recently released a report on Yemen’s water situation that concluded that Yemen was “one of the most water-scare countries in the world”. This shortage in water is not due to the number of throats that have been quenching but rather, the number of cheeks that have been filling; the Yemen Observer reported that Qat production increases 10% a year and accounts for 90% off the country’s annual water consumption. The severity of the situation has recently been concreted by Sana’a university’s Geology professor, Khalid Al Thour, who has predicted that Sana’a will use up its water reserves by 2015.
And according to Yemen’s Minister for Water and the Environment, the current conflict in north Yemen with the Al Houthi group is strongly rooted to the governments failure to successfully manage the county’s resources and combat the rise in Qat production.
Need-less-to-say, it appears that Qat consumption in Yemen will have to be reduced drastically in the near future…… don’t think anyone has told the guy on the street that though.
