اخبار اليمن One of the victims of the Houthi war.. UAE urges Yemenis to invest its support for food security

Food and water security is one of the most important relief goals that the United Arab Emirates has focused on, within the projects and humanitarian interventions that it has implemented and is still implementing in the various liberated Yemeni regions in particular.

In addition, food and water security are among the main pillars for achieving any economic growth in any country.  This prompted the UAE, through its humanitarian arms, to extend a helping hand and assistance to their brothers in Yemen in this regard by providing solutions to secure food and water, creating sustainable livelihoods, and supporting the agricultural and water sectors in a number of Yemeni regions.

Relief efforts

 The war sparked by the Houthi militia - Iran's arm in Yemen - since 2015, has caused great damage to food security, bringing the number of people in need of food aid, according to UN reports, to about 23 million.  These are large numbers that need greater efforts to cover them and deliver food to them.

From the first moment of the crisis, the UAE rushed through its humanitarian arms to extend land, sea and air bridges in order to deliver thousands of tons of food aid, in order to alleviate the suffering and achieve food security for the neediest families in the various liberated areas.  Food baskets represented the first lines of the Emirati humanitarian approach to achieving food security in Yemen.  As the total value of relief and humanitarian aid provided during the period from the beginning of the year 2021 to August 2022 amounted to more than one billion and 160 million dirhams, which is a clear translation of the comprehensiveness of the Emirati support for projects and humanitarian needs that the liberated governorates enjoyed.

Food sustainability is a major focus

 In parallel with the relief efforts, the UAE has developed another strategy aimed at providing possible solutions to secure food in a sustainable manner instead of waiting for relief aid from abroad in light of the difficult war conditions.

The UAE has resorted to supporting agricultural development through a package of projects related to securing water, especially in arable areas. It has worked on digging dozens of underground wells, rehabilitating water installations, as well as establishing farms and providing capabilities and support for land reclamation in agricultural areas.

The package of development projects in this aspect falls within the food and water security strategy of the UAE 2036, which aims to ensure the sustainability and continuity of access to water in normal and emergency conditions.  It is a strategy that contributes to the prosperity of the agricultural sector, the growth of the national economy, and the achievement of food security for communities.

Long-term goals that the UAE is working to achieve by supporting projects that achieve a secure future, a decent life, and the benefit of the people from their wealth, especially agricultural wealth, which guarantees the stability of the internal economy in crises and wars.

clear strategy

 Over the past year, the UAE has adopted a series of development and service projects aimed at supporting the agricultural and water sector, helping citizens to meet future water needs in a sustainable manner, and encouraging them to return to agriculture.

The implementation of projects for digging wells and rehabilitating dams and water facilities contributes significantly to reducing pressure on groundwater used in agriculture, providing a program for managing water supply, and increasing the efficiency of water use in agriculture.

In Hadramawt, the Emirates Red Crescent Authority worked, and within its humanitarian and developmental work, to raise the implementation of projects for digging various artesian wells, which amounted to (42) wells in Hadramout Governorate, of which 15 wells will be completed in the year 2022. These wells contributed to achieving water stability for citizens who have suffered greatly from water scarcity.  Water, dryness of old wells, and the lack of alternative solutions to sustain them.

In Shabwa, the UAE has recently adopted an integrated project for the rehabilitation and maintenance of 21 water facilities, which are projects aimed at strengthening local efforts in the governorate, and a major step that will revive the agricultural sector, which has deteriorated during the last period due to water scarcity and dry wells.

Financing and implementing water projects confirms the reality of the Emirati will to achieve a promising future in the field of human development, securing water reserves and reforming the agricultural structure in Yemen. This is what it means to eliminate dependence and create a productive society in the near future.

The Yemeni Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries, Salem Abdullah Al-Soqtari, praised the support provided by the UAE and its funding to implement strategic projects in various development and service sectors, in particular the agricultural sector, stressing that these strategic projects represent a strong impetus for the agricultural sector and will contribute to supplying the local market with various agricultural products.  throughout the seasons of the year.

The Minister of Agriculture said that it is not new for the UAE to implement such strategic projects, pointing to the signing in late November of the launch of the first phase of the Hassan Dam construction project in Abyan Governorate, in addition to the UAE's support for the agricultural sector in the Socotra archipelago and other liberated areas.

Rehabilitation of Hassan Dam

 Perhaps the most prominent development projects announced at the end of 2022 in support of the strategy to achieve water and food security is the project to rehabilitate the Hassan Dam in Abyan Governorate, which is one of the most important agricultural governorates in Yemen due to its crops and grains.

Despite the unique fertility of the soil in the regions of Abyan, there is a confinement and a decline in agricultural areas due to the high costs incurred by farmers in providing water, as well as the lack of water facilities that preserve rain water, not to mention the damage to the water barriers that protect agricultural lands during torrential rains and floods.

Abyan suffers from the scarcity of groundwater due to the large consumption of irrigation of agricultural lands, prompting the UAE to rush to support a major strategic project aimed at providing a huge water reserve of rainwater for use in agriculture and reclaiming the lands again.

Rebuilding the Wadi Hassan agricultural dam is of great importance to agriculture and farmers and contributes to the regulation of irrigation for large areas of agricultural lands located within the framework of the dam and encourages the reclamation of wastelands and benefit from the flood waters that are currently wasted to the sea, and will contribute to increasing and improving agricultural production and improving the level of income  For farmers, supplying the local market with various agricultural products, and contributing to combating poverty by employing a large number of unemployed people from the governorate.

Socotra is a successful model

For decades, the inhabitants of the Socotra archipelago have been facing the difficulty of providing basic food needs, especially during the windy and choppy season, when it is difficult to deliver supplies coming from the coasts of Hadramout and Al-Mahra.

During the past few years, the UAE, through its humanitarian arm, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Works, has adopted a new strategy aimed at helping families on the island secure their needs for healthy food through a package of support and initiatives aimed at encouraging agriculture and securing vegetables and fruits, especially since the island  It has fertile agricultural lands.

The UAE's agricultural propagation nursery was a distinguished source for transporting tens of thousands of seedlings to all villages and regions of Socotra on an annual basis.  Where he worked to meet the needs of farmers, in addition to preserving Socotra's environmental privacy that prevents the introduction of any seedlings from outside Socotra to protect its unique plant diversity from agricultural pests.

The Bashayer Model Farms is one of the successful and unique experiences that the UAE has undertaken to support the agricultural sector in Socotra, and has contributed to supplying the local market with different types of agricultural crops.  The establishment of these model farms is to encourage the people of Socotra to cultivate in order to achieve self-sufficiency for their food needs.

The distribution of agricultural seedlings for vegetables and fruits contributed to the establishment of hundreds of agricultural plots at the level of Socotra, which achieved family and community awareness of the important role of agriculture and its positive impact in maintaining a strong and healthy society.

The head of the General Authority for Environmental Protection in Socotra, Faisal Al-Thalabi, appreciated the efforts of the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Works and its activity in providing food for the island through the model farms that it established and supported in order to advance the agricultural sector.

He explained that the model farms supported by the UAE represent a unique experience and an educational school for all the people of Socotra on how to benefit from this experience and apply it in all nurseries on the island, pointing out that the farms are a new and pioneering experience, especially in the cultivation of seedlings of vegetables, fruits, and permanent and sustainable crops.

The head of the Environment Authority added that the farm is a modern model in the use of drip irrigation network and sprinklers to grow agricultural crops, in addition to the possibility of cultivation in different seasons of the year in covered houses.

The UAE support was not limited to establishing farms and breeding sites, but also directed to providing seeds that encouraged many to turn to agriculture, in addition to the support it provides in dealing with agricultural pests and educating farmers about modern methods of agriculture and irrigation to increase crop productivity and achieve advanced indicators in this aspect.