Houthi mines cause a decline in the cultivated areas in Tihama
English - Monday 07 November 2022 الساعة 02:28 pm
Al-Khokha, NewsYemen, Special:
Before the light of dawn crept in, "Abdullah" was plowing a small field on the outskirts of the Al-Khokha district, which is very fertile, and he was reassuring about the places on which his feet rested, and near him were the ripe fields with their green stalks, which predicted that after days, they would be overwhelmed by their heavy loads of ears of corn, which are Scenes that recall the status of Tihama, Yemen's food basket over the past decades
However, these scenes cannot be seen in other fields along the coastal strip, after the Houthi militia flooded them with thousands of mines, and caused a decline in the cultivated areas by up to 38 percent, compared to what they were before the war ignited by the Iranian arm in Yemen.
According to a recent study, many farmers in the Tuhami plain are no longer able to plow their agricultural fields, due to the dangers posed by mines, and as a result, thousands of hectares of agricultural land have turned into barren deserts.
With the shrinkage of the cultivated land, the losses of the agricultural sector doubled with it, in relation to the decline in the amount of crop production, which weighed on farmers, whose profits declined by an estimated 42 percent.
According to the estimates of experts in the field of demining, the Houthi militia planted nearly two million multiple mines, making the West Coast, the largest minefield in the world after World War II.
These numbers reflect the fears of its great danger to the lives of the population, which will extend for decades to come, fears that prompted the engineering teams of the participating forces to move to a front that has become the most important of all, which is to confront the Houthi death traps.
These efforts have resulted in clearing thousands of agricultural fields of Houthi militia mines, allowing farmers to return to their previous profession after their agricultural fields were forgotten.
The director of the Agriculture Office in the Mocha district, Muhammad Qulihat, confirms that the engineering teams have contributed greatly to clearing large parts of the western coastal areas, which has enabled farmers to return to their agricultural fields.
He adds that the demining process still requires intensive efforts, given the great damage to the country's most important agricultural lands, which for decades constituted the Yemeni food basket.
For "Ali Al-Alili," one of the major farmers of Al-Khoukha district, clearing large parts of Tihama from Houthi booby traps, enabled it to supply local markets with their needs of cash crops, grains, dates, and other crops.
He adds that, over the past centuries, the Tihama formed the food stock of the population, and maintained its position in this aspect, but today it needs to regain its position again by cleaning it of Houthi mines and replanting the area of land that has shrunk due to the war of the Houthi militia.
