Yemen: Qat and Water

Roger D. Norton ()
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Roger D. Norton: Texas A&M University

Chapter 1 in Structural Inequality, 2022, pp 1-34 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Ancient Yemen’s terraced slopes captured rainfall off the Red Sea and Yemen became a land of gardens, Happy Arabia to Romans. But Yemen may be the first country to run out of water. Conversations in Yemen revealed the origins of the crisis: abrupt introduction of a new pumping technology, subsidies for pumps and the energy driving them, banning imports of water-intensive crops, the national habit of chewing the thirsty crop qat, and institutional weakness for water management. Cities have minimal water so farmers benefit from inequality in access to water, but the vanishing water will hit farming hardest. Inequality will reverse abruptly.

Keywords: Arabia Felix; Qat; Ta’izz; Sana’a; Queen of Sheba; Access to water; Ta’izz; Ibb; Aquifer; Water wells; Water table; Underground water; Sana’a; Ma’rib dam; Frankincense; Water demand management; Water shortage; Sana’a; Old City sana’a; World Heritage site; Urban density; Drilling technology; Boreholes; Spate irrigation; Water abstraction; Qat; Water use rights; Institutional weakness; Water access inequality; Irrigation subsidies; Water-intensive crops; Agricultural import prohibitions; Wheat pricing; Urban water subsidy; Water access inequality; Aquifer management; Qat consumption; Qat health effects; Qat surveys; Qat water use; Food security; Wadi Dhar; Imam Yahya; Queen Arwa; Kawkaban; Himyarites; Thula; Qat markets; Qat price; Qat education; Farmland set-aside; Water rights; Water rights market; Water in Oman; Aquifer recharge; Water allocation efficiency; Water access inequality; Water-saving irrigation; Institutional weakness; Yemen modernization; Leadership; Qat and water (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-08633-5_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-08633-5_1

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