Industrial, agricultural and economic obstacles [Archives:2005/812/Business & Economy]

By Dr. Ahmed Ismail al-Bawab
The economic obstacles that hinder agricultural industry in our country is ascribed to the failure of the implementation of successful agricultural policies that lead to profusion of production depending on the right selection of the planted categories.

The selection of categories should consider the environmentally suitable lands taking into account the use of modern technologies. Moreover, there should be easy procedures to facilitate distributing these products as well as gaining acceptable revenues that undoubtedly encourage keeping on improving this sector.

The crops categories in Yemen are not determined on scientific bases and field studies that deal with production, marketing and climate. On the contrary, most farmers plant some types as soon as they hear about the other farmers' success in planting these specific types haphazardly without taking into account the nature of the soil and suitability of climate and the right choice of the new types. They don't actually realize that there are specific ways of cultivation that led to success of this agriculture in a consuming markets being in need for this production.

So, the accumulation of similar types of agricultural crops is the result of the blind imitation and competition in producing the very products leading to stagnation of these products in the markets. Therefore, there should be some measures to be taken by the concerned authorities represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation including all its administrations. This is to guide the farmers to the selection of the suitable types to be planted so as to insure the fresh consumption and agricultural industry. The farmers then are to get benefit from the official directives before indulging in planting their lands which protects them from failure and loss.

That is clear, the development of the agricultural work is one of the main bases of the national economy in our country. That's why it should be encouraged to exchange scientific experiences and the results of the agricultural and industrial researches for the sake of developing and adapting with the use of the modern technologies and collecting information on marketing.

All this data should be analyzed entirely coming out with a clear picture of the strategies and orientations of markets with their capacities putting them in the hands of the workers themselves in order to agriculturally and industrially revive the agricultural sector. In this case, we reach to form complete productive plans that help develop this sector providing the local, regional and international markets with enough quantities of products.

Not only that, they also help us decide the standards and qualities of agricultural products leading to specifying the categories that are suitable for the food industry.

Of the concerns of the Agricultural Researches Centers in our country is distributing the results of such studies among the dealers in the agricultural sector and the agricultural charitable societies and authorities to apply them to their works and produce the industrially suitable food products.

These centers should make some researches to specify the types of soil suitable for the required categories of crops suggesting the ways of service and protection and identifying the times of growing and reaping them. They do guide the farmers to use the best ways of storage, reservation, canning and transporting products. Besides, the farmers should get familiar with the assigned standards of the local industrial products comparing them to the other regional and international ones.

All these are considered positive factors that do contribute to developing the Yemeni agricultural sector and providing the categories of products required for developing the food industry and the canned goods in particular. The agricultural products used in food industry should be increased in order to achieve self sufficiency while the surplus is to be exported as soon as possible otherwise they will expire making a loss not merely on the farms level but on the country's level.

When great amounts of the agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables were subjected to expire, they should have been industrialized to keep the national wealth because there's a close connection between agriculture and the food industry the thing that keeps both sectors.

There is no food industry without agriculture and there's no economically sustainable and successful agriculture without receiving the benefit of industrializing products and the surplus. Achieving the economic growth in the agricultural and food industry sectors requires the great care about the profitable deal with all casual results of these sectors.

This article ran originally in 26th September Weekly, Issue No. 1170.
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