Land degradation threatening farmers, says senior official [Archives:2007/1097/Reportage]

A senior Agriculture Ministry official has said he is worried about farmers' future livelihoods as agricultural land was at risk of degradation, but government funds were inadequate to tackle the problem and prevent creeping desertification.

Ali al-Dhameri, head of the Anti-Desertification Unit at the Forests and Desertification Control Department (FDCD) at the ministry, told IRIN that 95 percent of Yemen's agricultural land was at risk of deterioration, threatening the government's goal of improving food self-sufficiency. At present, Yemen imports about 75 percent of its food, according to government statistics.

\”The future of farmers is at risk. Internal migration from rural areas to cities will increase as their [the farmers'] fields deteriorate