Yemen: Diesel shortage affects pomegranates season in Sa’ada
Two main reasons for this sudden decrease in prices is the oversupply and low quality of pomegranates this year, according to Azeez Gharisa, a farmer in Majaz district, 18km north of the capital city of Sa'ada.
The farmers could not irrigate the pomegranates properly in June and July because of an acute shortage of diesel needed for water pumps. This affected the quality of some crops, according to Gharisa.
The farmers in Sa'ada and many other governorates use diesel-powered water pumps to irrigate their farms. Around 12 percent of Yemen's total consumption of diesel, estimated at 270,000 tons per month, goes to diesel-powered water pumps, according to a previous statement made by Iskander Al-Aghbari, manager of the Agricultural Irrigation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.
Abdullah Al-Wadee, manager of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s office in Sa'ada, confirmed in a conversation with the Yemen Times that the diesel shortage in spring affected this year’s crop in Sa’ada—it is especially in springtime that blossoming pomegranate trees are in urgent need of water.
Yemen experienced a sharp decline of diesel and petrol supplies between March and July. The supply resumed to normal levels after the government removed the fuel subsidy on July 30. Diesel prices increased from YR2,000 ($9.3) per 20 litres to YR3,900 ($18).
Al-Wadee said that Sa'ada is expected to produce around 130,000 tons of pomegranates this year, half of which will be consumed locally while the other half will be exported to Gulf countries. Pomegranates in Yemen are mainly grown in Sa'ada governorate, which has about two million pomegranate trees.
The pomegranate harvest begins on July 15 and lasts until mid-November, according to Gharisa.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation had to send a team from the ministry to Sa'ada in July to check for harmful levels of pesticide residue left on crops after the UAE warned Yemen it would stop importing Yemeni pomegranates unless they are accompanied by a pesticide residue certificate, according to Abdullah Masood, manager of the Central Lab of Pesticides Residue in Sana'a.
“Tests showed that farmers used the pesticides safely in accordance with the CODEX international food standards. Some crops were tested free of any pesticides because farmers used natural techniques for the crop,” said Masood.
Ali Ashyab, the agricultural media officer in Sa'ada, confirms that some farmers in Sa'ada use a natural anti-pest technique which involves covering pomegranate trees with a transparent piece of cloth when the tree starts blossoming to protect the crop from pests.
The first shipment of pomegranates—about 100 tons—entered the UAE at the beginning of August accompanied by test results specifying the level of pesticides residue, according to Masood.
Yemen's agricultural sector widely suffers from low local prices which often fail to even cover production costs, leaving farmers without any incentive to invest in farming and in harvesting their crops. Accordingly, crops are often neglected and vulnerable to damage caused by pests or unfavourable weather conditions, according to Ashyab.
Low prices, Al-Wadee confirmed, explain why some farmers are abandoning their pomegranates and not harvesting them. “Sometimes all farmers export their crop to only one place in a gulf country which results in recession,” he added.
Al-Wadee explained that a large number of tradesmen who used to store pomegranates in refrigerator-trucks, stopped their business this year because of fuel subsidy cuts and high diesel prices.
The government has not yet implemented its presidential order, issued on July 9, to exempt solar power systems from custom fees in an attempt to encourage farmers and consumers to use clean and affordable energy.
Source: yementimes.com
