Yemen

Yemen, with a total area of 527 970 km2, is located on the south-western edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Apart from the mainland it includes many islands, the largest of which are Socotra in the Arabian Sea and Kamaran in the Red Sea. The country is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the south, and the Red Sea to the west. The present Republic of Yemen was created in 1990 as a result of the unification of the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). The country is divided into 21 administrative governorates, including the three newly created governorates Amran and Al-Daleh, created in 2000, and Raimah, created in 2004.

The cultivable land is estimated at 3.62 million ha, which is 7 percent of the total area. In 2004 the total cultivated area was 1.19 million ha, compared with 1.05 million ha in 1994, of which 81 percent consisted of temporary crops and 19 percent of permanent crops. The main crops were cereals, covering about 686 000 ha (58 percent of the total cultivated area), and qat, covering 122 844 ha (10 percent). Farm size, including both rainfed and irrigated agriculture, is generally very small: 62 percent of farms have less than 2 ha, while only 4 percent cover more than 10 ha.

Geographically, the country can be divided into three physiographic regions: the western, the eastern and the southern escarpment. Cultivated areas are mostly silty, with a high degree of heterogeneity, both laterally and vertically. Lower wadi reaches are extensively affected by blown sand, which tends to form dunes. The wadi soils are alluvial deposits, mostly consisting of fine sands and silts, which may reach several meters in depth. Agricultural soils have a high pH of about 7.8 to 8.0, very little organic matter and are nearly always deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus. Most of the land areas in the highlands are steep, rugged and badly eroded as a consequence of overgrazing and removal of woody vegetation. Agriculture is restricted to hillside terraces and riparian farms on the sides of the wadis, which range in size from a few meters to more than 100 meters, depending on the geologic and geomorphic features of the wadis. Soils captured by terraces show profiles of varying depths and morphology.

 

Yemen Population 2020

30,299,172	Current population
15,248,544	Current male population (50.3%)
15,050,628	Current female population (49.7%)

 

Animal population Terrestrial animals, Yemen, 2016

Species	Admin unit	Population	Units	Number of establishments	Units
Camelidae	Abyan	13859	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Aden	624	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Al Baida	5180	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Al Daleh	688	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Al Hodeideh	13892	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Al Jawf	64047	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Al Mahrah	154920	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Al Mahweet	495	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Amran	1883	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Dhamar	2089	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Hadramout	106247	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Haja	6268	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Ibb	2314	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Laheg	6114	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Mareb	27105	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Saadah	6875	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Sana’A	3192	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Sana’Adc	647	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Shabwah	37958	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	Taiz	4969	Animals		Establishments
Camelidae	The Whole Country	459366	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Abyan	29284	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Aden	778	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Al Baida	28061	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Al Daleh	52547	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Al Hodeideh	338235	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Al Jawf	45586	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Al Mahrah	13680	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Al Mahweet	65536	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Amran	65299	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Dhamar	188403	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Hadramout	20694	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Haja	170750	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Ibb	232808	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Laheg	31401	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Mareb	9872	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Saadah	95218	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Sana’A	85529	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Sana’Adc	112947	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Shabwah	4730	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	Taiz	218376	Animals		Establishments
Cattle	The Whole Country	1809734	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Abyan	890040	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Aden	17096	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Al Baida	221540	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Al Daleh	139436	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Al Hodeideh	586120	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Al Jawf	472195	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Al Mahrah	504125	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Al Mahweet	83499	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Amran	321437	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Dhamar	227836	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Hadramout	1994775	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Haja	574607	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Ibb	288454	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Laheg	405052	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Mareb	374268	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Saadah	374398	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Sana’A	302003	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Sana’Adc	110946	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Shabwah	978464	Animals		Establishments
Goats	Taiz	493905	Animals		Establishments
Goats	The Whole Country	9360196	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Abyan	581700	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Aden	25054	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Al Baida	517217	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Al Daleh	204760	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Al Hodeideh	1132725	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Al Jawf	761727	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Al Mahrah	188983	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Al Mahweet	103432	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Amran	610339	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Dhamar	447978	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Hadramout	833425	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Haja	714104	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Ibb	249788	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Laheg	305052	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Mareb	425407	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Saadah	755329	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Sana’A	504927	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Sana’Adc	115011	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Shabwah	802931	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	Taiz	387121	Animals		Establishments
Sheep	The Whole Country	9667010	Animals		Establishments

Agriculture
Agricultural production is the single most important contributor to Yemen’s economy, accounting for 20 percent of GDP. The agricultural sector provides approximately 58 percent of the country’s employment. The labor-intensive sector is largely underdeveloped and inefficient, as a result of soil erosion, the high cost of credit and land, a lack of investment, and the scarcity of water. Most of the cultivated land is irrigated and dependent on groundwater, but high demand could exhaust water supplies by 2008. Although agricultural output has increased steadily in the past few years, crop yields remain low relative to those produced by comparable countries.

Major agricultural products include fruits, vegetables, and cereals, but production is rarely sufficient to meet domestic demand. As a result, Yemen continues to import most of its food. Yemen also cultivates qat, a mildly narcotic plant indigenous to Africa. Although legal, the government has recently moved to ban its consumption in public offices and on army duty due to economic and social costs associated with those under the influence. It continues to be widely consumed, and future efforts to ban it are unlikely.

Livestock
Yemen’s livestock appears to comprise at least 11 breeds of sheep, 5 breeds of goat, 2 breeds of cattle, 4 breeds of camel, 2 breeds of a donkey and 1 breed of horse. There are no data on breeds of poultry but domestic fowl (where considerable diversity exists) and pigeons are kept. There is little formal information on the history and relationships of most breeds. Some appear to be of ancient local origin, whereas others show affinities with those of neighboring and other countries. None of the identified types is considered endangered, so conservation would be premature. A more formal and detailed genetic characterization, to add to the large morphological and traditional classification, may, however, reveal such a need.

Plants and Animals
The distribution of vegetation roughly corresponds to the zones of elevation and precipitation. It is possible to distinguish three general regions: (1) the coastal plain and its wadis, in which dry-climate plants such as the date palm, citrus fruits, banana, and cotton as well as spurges (euphorbia), acacia, and tamarisk predominate (the dry wadis of the eastern desert support similar flora), (2) the middle highlands, with a variety of such food crops as melons, nuts, grapes, and grains, as well as various spurges, eucalyptus, sycamore, fig, and carob, and (3) the mountainous interior, with its temperate-zone crops, including coffee, the mild stimulant khat (qāt), and a variety of woody shrubs and trees. Yemen retained considerable forest cover into the early years of the 20th century. However, the pressures generated by rapid population growth—notably the increased demand for stove wood and agricultural land—largely depleted the forest legacy. In the early 21st century a negligible amount of forest cover remained.

These same human pressures have had a devastating effect on Yemen’s wildlife. Evidence suggests the presence of such species as a panther, ostrich, various antelopes (including the Arabian oryx), and large cats (e.g., lions) as recently as a century ago; some species of panther and antelope, which persist in Yemen, are threatened, surviving in limited numbers. One of the largest wild mammals still widespread in Yemen is the hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas), though its numbers to are said to be diminished; among the smaller mammals are the hyena, fox, and rabbit. In two categories of wildlife—birds, and insects—Yemen has a relatively abundant and varied population; many species remain uncatalogued. Probably the greatest diversity of fauna, however, inhabits the waters of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. Among the many different species are tuna, mackerel, shark, sardines, lobster, shrimp, and squid.

Climate
The climate is semi-arid to arid. Rainy seasons occur during the spring and the summer. Rainfall depends on two main mechanisms: The Red Sea Convergence Zone (RSCZ) and the monsoonal Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The RSCZ is active from March to May. Its influence is most noticeable at the higher altitudes in the western parts of the country. The ITCZ reaches Yemen in July-September, moving north and then south again so that its influence lasts longer in the south. Rainstorms observed during the winter months of December and January are attributed to the influence of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Yemen Delegate

Dr. Yaser Al Eryani
Director-General
Directorate General of Animal Health & Veterinary Quarantine
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
38 Bir Ashaif Zone, Street N°8, Sana’a
PO Box 14837
YEMEN