[SANA’A] Yemen’s prized Sidr honey trade is collapsing as the Houthi regime turns a blind eye to bee-killing pesticides imported illegally for growers of the narcotic drug khat.

Almost a sixth of the arable land in the country is given over to pesticide-hungry khat, a cocaine-like stimulant chewed daily by over half of Yemeni men.

These pesticides the combination of fipronil and imidacloprid – normally used as a flea treatment for animals – which are toxic to bees and banned in Yemen.

“After they harm the bees, traces of these pesticides remain in the honey in very small, almost negligible amounts,” said Abdul Salam Al-Bakri, executive director of the Yemeni Association of Beekeepers and Honey Traders.

“These traces impact the export process because international inspections detect the residues.”

In Yemen, beekeeping is highly esteemed and the country is renowned for producing one of the world’s finest types of honey, Sidr honey. Classified among the strategic cash crops, Sidr honey serves as a crucial economic resource for the country.

However, Honey production in Yemen fell by almost half from 2,800 tons in 2020 to 1,600 tons in 2022, according to Abdullah Nasher, the head of the Cooperative Association of Yemeni Beekeepers.

This situation has adversely affected the economic status of Yemeni honey traders, leading some to withdraw from the profession in recent times.

The blame is squarely placed on khat—excessive use of pesticides in Yemen stems from the intensive consumption of khat plants, meaning that growers resort to increased pesticide and fertilizer application to stimulate faster growth and renewal of its branches.

Khat cultivation covers approximately 172,000 hectares—14 per cent of the total cultivated area in Yemen.

Intensive use of powerful pesticides has helped khat production to grow by 50 per cent from 2017 to 2021, according to data from the country’s Agricultural Statistics Book.

The drug is cultivated and harvested year-round in Yemen, requiring additional irrigation during dry periods and high temperatures.

“Khat occupies the best agricultural lands in Yemen, consuming at least 75 per cent of the annual irrigation water, while cereal crops are rainfed,” says Abdulmu’min Shuja’addin, Assistant Professor of Economics and Sustainable Agriculture at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Sana’a.

“Multiple types of pesticides are used with khat, whereas pesticides are rarely used with grains, except in cases such as locust control, where spraying directly targets the pest infestations themselves.

“Around 80 per cent of pesticides in Yemen are used on khat, approximately 15 per cent on vegetables and fruits, while the percentage of pesticide use on grains does not exceed 5 per cent.”

Pesticide imports have increased dramatically in Yemen amid war and weak government, and the growth in khat consumption.

For example, the country’s Agricultural Statistics Book reveals that pesticide imports more than tripled between 2020 and 2021, from approximately 4.5 million liters/kilogram to 14.19 million liters/kilogram.

In addition to those figures, there are quantities entering the country through smuggling routes, which are not officially accounted for.

One leading culprit is the combination of fipronil and imidacloprid, according to Ali Mahrez, the head of the Pesticide Experiments Department at the General Plant Protection Administration within the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in Sana’a.

The effectiveness of the mixture has encouraged farmers to spray it liberally to combat pests such as aphids, thrips, and whiteflies. When this mixture is sprayed on flowering vegetable crops it leads to bee poisoning, according to Mahrez, who chaired the issuance of a report titled Bee Colony Poisoning in 2022.

However, the problem is made worse because the Houthi regime has largely turned a blind eye to illegal pesticide imports, and several bodies under the Houthi government have been implicated in the illegal importation of a prohibited and internationally banned pesticide into the country.

For example, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation made a report with farmers in the Bani Matar region of the north-eastern Saada governorate, who requested permission to import methyl bromide for agricultural and health purposes, despite the fact that a memorandum from the Governor of Saada says the banned pesticide should not be used.

Methyl bromide is used as a pesticide in agriculture to control pests, weeds, nematodes, and fungi in the soil, and for fumigation of enclosed spaces such as warehouses and farm buildings.

Due to its toxicity it has been restricted in many countries, and it is ozone-depleting substance included in the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the ozone layer.

The hand-written minutes—seen by SciDev.Net—give growers permission to import methyl bromide “out of necessity”, reclassifying it from “prohibited” to “severely restricted”.

“The government has taken several measures that have contributed to flooding the country with pesticides that are deadly to humans and trees, pollute the land, groundwater, and the environment,” says Khaled Al-Arassi, a Yemeni journalist and activist who has waged a campaign against pesticide traders.

The issue of smuggled pesticides in Yemen has turned into an issue of public opinion, and a special parliamentary committee held a meeting earlier this year (13 May), charged with studying the problem of pesticides circulating in the local market and their effects and harms on human, animal, plant and environmental health, in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation and a number of officials in government agencies.

It found that the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation hasn’t carried out an inspection campaign on the sale and trade of pesticides since 2019.

In total, it found that 39 prohibited substances including fipronil and imidacloprid, and methyl bromide had entered the country, according to information on pesticides seized at customs, indicating widespread smuggling.

The committee added the fines imposed were insufficient to deter repeated occurrences of smuggling, and highlighted the Ministry of Agriculture’s failure to operate within institutional and regulatory frameworks consistent with laws and regulations governing its responsibilities.

Sadiq Al-Habeet, director general of pesticides at Yemen’s General Administration of Plant Protection, explained how the pesticides are smuggled into the country.

“They place pesticides under other goods to hide them,” he said. “There are many pictures and videos of discovering pesticides smuggled in this way, and in other ways.

“Due to the long border strip, customs points cannot seize all smuggled shipments.”

The excessive use of pesticides entering the country during the past four years has led to huge losses for beekeepers and honey traders.

“Bees are affected from a distance of three kilometres, and a lot of hives die, especially if the apiaries are close together,” said Taha Al-Suroori, one of the leading beekeepers and traders in Yemen.

Al-Suroori is among a hundred thousand Yemeni beekeepers whose hives have been adversely affected in recent years.

They have faced successive setbacks, beginning with the war and ongoing conflicts, followed by climate change and the floods and torrents that swept away hundreds of bee colonies, and finally, pesticides.

In the 2020 season, beekeeper Abdullah Al-Musharra lost 400 beehives due to internationally banned pesticides sprayed by khat farmers near his apiary, which produces the renowned Sidr Honey “Al-Osaimi”.

“Khat farmers only think about profit,” said Al-Suroori. “Ignorantly they are destroying Yemeni land and people, and their hands have extended to eliminate Yemeni honey, which is unique in the world.”