Yemeni official calls on FAO to expand coffee cultivation in upcoming interventions

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation for the Agricultural Production Sector, Eng. Abdulmalik Naji, called on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to expand coffee cultivation in its upcoming interventions in the Republic of Yemen.

This came during the meeting held today, Tuesday, in the interim capital, Aden, to discuss the results of the study prepared by the FAO on the coffee crop, according to the Saba News Agency.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture explained that preparing this study on the coffee crop comes based on our country’s selection of it as a strategic national product in the workshop held in the Italian capital, Rome, under the slogan “One Country, One Product.”

In turn, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation for the Irrigation and Land Reclamation Sector, Eng. Ahmed Al-Zamki, pointed out that the Ministry has presented projects in coffee-growing areas with the aim of increasing its production.

He called on the FAO to partner with the Ministry in its approach to increasing coffee production by focusing on value chain and marketing support projects, as well as irrigation projects in coffee-growing areas, as they suffer from scarcity of water resources, which has led to farmers’ reluctance to grow coffee trees in our country.

For his part, the Senior Consultant at the FAO, Mohammed Salam, stated that the organization worked to provide technical support to workers in the coffee crop, explaining that this study comes within this support, through which the FAO seeks to mobilize donor support and direct them to large projects targeting increasing coffee crop production.

Dr. Mohammed Fareh, Senior Program Specialist at FAO, reviewed the idea of the study, its main objective, and the results it produced, indicating the coffee cultivation areas, the annual production volume, and the most prominent reasons that led to the decline in its cultivation.

The study was enriched by the interventions and discussions of the participants, which stressed the need to improve the study and correct its shortcomings and deficiencies in order to ensure the emergence of a clear vision that contributes to enhancing and developing coffee production.

The study also recommended that a strategy be developed to develop the coffee crop within the framework of the National Center for Coffee Crop Development, which was established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries, and which will work in partnership with civil society organizations, the private sector and research bodies.