KHAT: The Destroyer of Yemen

Seems like all we hear in the news from Yemen has been reports of an escalating rebellion along the border with Saudi Arabia or the threat posed by a sanctuary for Al Qaeda. But for water experts, Yemen has been making their news headlines for decades because of its severe overuse of a rapidly disappearing supply of water.

Yemen's water crisis is, in part, the inevitable result of a rapidly growing population, limited rainfall, political blunders and finite water resources. Yes, we must also blame meddlers like the World Bank and the IMF. For centuries, Yemeni farmers captured rainwater for their crops. But in the 1970s, well-intentioned international groups such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund showed up with a raft of incentives to get farmers to drill wells and use underground aquifers instead.

Still another culprit deserves most of the blame, and not just for its effects on the depleting water supply, but its damage caused to the very soul of the people of Yemen. Who is this demon you say? Well, not who, but what...khat.

Khat (Catha edulis) is a flowering shrub native to northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Individuals chew khat leaves because of the stimulant effects, which are similar to but less intense than those caused by abusing cocaine or methamphetamine. Individuals who abuse khat typically experience a state of mild depression following periods of prolonged use. Taken in excess khat causes extreme thirst, hyperactivity, insomnia, and loss of appetite (which can lead to anorexia). Frequent khat use often leads to decreased productivity because the drug tends to reduce the user’s motivation. Repeated use can cause manic behavior with grandiose delusions,
paranoia, and hallucinations. (There have been reports of khat-induced psychosis.) The drug also can cause damage to the nervous, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems.

Now enter Yemeni farmers... despite a new law outlawing most private wells, the drilling goes on. The sound of water pumps can be heard on farm plots all around the capital. The most popular crop of choice among these farmers is khat.

According to locals and reportes from Yemen, Khat production is even endorsed, or should I say encouraged by officials, who most likely recieve a cut of the profits.

Small farmer Abdullah al-Jidri, sporting a softball-sized wad of khat leaves in his left cheek, says many farmers would be happy to grow fruits, vegetables and grains, but they can't live without the cash brought in by khat.

"With food crops, we have to wait for a year or longer to get a harvest, and if there's a problem, you won't get a crop. But with khat, you just put some water on it and you have leaves in a month's time that you can sell immediately. It's a cash crop," he says.

When asked whether he's heard that the government wants farmers to stop growing khat to save water, Jidri and his brother laugh. "Don't believe the officials. They ask us to grow more khat for them to chew," he says.

Other than cash for farmers, Yemenis agree that khat produces no benefit, and in fact they will tell you that it impairs the productivity of much of the labor force most afternoons. But efforts to curtail khat production and its consumption have gone nowhere.

This is not even the brunt of the problem with Khat in Yemen. As much as 90% of men and 1 in 4 women in Yemen are estimated to chew the leaves, storing a wad in one cheek as the khat slowly breaks down into the saliva and enters the bloodstream. At around $5 for a bag (the amount typically consumed by a single regular user in a day) it’s an expensive habit in a country where about 45% of the population lives below the poverty line. Most families spend more money on khat than on food, according to government figures.

Check out this great article about how KHAT is killing Yemen.

So in a country that is facing a disasterous water shortage, threats of Al Qaida, severe poverty, war with its neighbors, and a host of other problems, it looks like we can add one more calamity to the list of deadly threats to Yemen's future; the destruction of its people via an addictive drug.

Riots in Jordan

While I admit the Casbah is arriving late on the story of riots in Jordan, we'll still post about it because it hasn't been widely reported. Searches in English and Arabic don't find many good, impartial articles. For a credible (but pro-government) take on the riots, The Jordan Times provides some good details.

After the death of a citizen who was allegedly beaten by police, violent riots broke out Saturday in Maan, a city in southern Jordan. Maan is a city known for its proud tribal heritage, and in the past Maan's residents have never shied away from a confrontation with the government.

Violence and/or riots have broken out in Maan in 2002, 1998, and 1989. The riots have followed various events that have brought negative consequences to the city's people. In 1989, riots responded to rising prices (especially fuel) that occurred after Jordan underwent some IMF structrual readjustment. In 1998, the army surrounded the city for days, cutting phone lines and arresting dozens following violence in protest of President Clinton's missile attacks on Iraq and frustration over a lack of progress brought by Jordan's concessional peace treaty with Israel a few years earlier. 2002 saw outbursts decrying the rise of bread and other commodity prices as the government lowered subsidies.

Maan was an integral population center during the foundation of modern Jordan. The Hashemite family had to count on key centers of tribal loyalty to the royal family, and Maan was one of those centers. Unlike most of Jordan's cities, Maan's population is mostly original Jordanians, rather than displaced Palestinians. These Jordanians usually hold a strong affiliation to the king, as Maan residents did in the early decades of the kingdom's history.

In the last few years Maan has emerged as one of the most politically dynamic Jordanian cities. Former US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin once called smaller, more traditional towns "the real America." Wastafarian wonders if Maan, with its smaller population, distance from Amman, tribal identity, and lack of Palestinians, is truly representative of the political pulse of East Bank Jordanians.

Is Maan "The Real Jordan?"