Why is coffee production scarce in Yemen? What are the reasons for Yemen's scarce coffee production?

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Yemeni coffee will not have a future unless the trend of farmers abandoning coffee and planting khat grass improves, experts say. Experts concluded that drought and water scarcity, lack of advanced irrigation systems, increased planting costs, severe pests and diseases, cheaper imported coffee, and better profits for carter than coffee. It seems that the problem is very complicated, and Yemen's coffee production may not increase in the short term.

The trend of catgrass replacing coffee trees alone is not easy to reverse, because it takes at least three to five years for a coffee plant to harvest, while catgrass can be sold in one to two years and is much more profitable than coffee, and Yemen coffee is easy to grow. However, the Yemeni authorities are determined to restore the coffee industry to its former glory. With the assistance of experts and donations from various countries, a coffee revitalization project has been launched in Yafiya, in the southern province of Lahaj, near the sea. At present, there are dozens of hectares of coffee fields in this area. Advanced irrigation systems have been laid, and coffee growers have been trained to cultivate 300,000 coffee seedlings every year.

The severe infestation of coffee cherries in Yemen's mountainous regions is estimated to cause an annual loss of 30 to 50 per cent of production. The Coffee Revitalization Project has cooperated with Sana'a University to study the best way to control insects. It remains to be seen whether the plan will breathe life into Yemen's moribund coffee industry.

Yemen is an ancient coffee-growing country. Some scholars believe that coffee trees arrived in Yemen from Harar, Ethiopia, ten centuries ago. It has also been said that coffee cultivation in Yemen began only after the twelfth century. For centuries, Yemeni farmers have followed traditional methods of growing coffee. Although Yemen's mountainous areas are dry, rain is scarce, and the soil is not easy to retain moisture, which does not look like an environment suitable for coffee growth. However, coffee farmers rely on the experience of their ancestors and inherit coffee trees from generation to generation. They plant coffee trees on steep slopes or depressions in valleys, or in terraces, so as to facilitate the retention or absorption of precious moisture in mountainous areas. And coffee is mostly planted on the slopes descending from west to east to avoid the afternoon sun, successfully cultivating the wild and strong coffee. After a field visit to Yemen's traditional coffee fields, a research team composed of European and American experts pointed out that Yemen is the most difficult coffee growing place in the world. The climate and soil here are not suitable for coffee growth. However, Yemeni coffee trees have fully adapted to the severe environment for hundreds of years. If they are replaced by coffee varieties from Central and South America, they may not survive.