Tractor donation to encourage wheat production [Archives:2008/1141/Local News]

SANA'A, March 25 ) The Japanese government donated more than 200 tractors to various Yemeni agricultural associations last Saturday in a ceremony attended by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen is currently trying to increase wheat production and decrease imports after the cost rose 220 percent on the international market. Yemen imports one million tons of American and Australian wheat annually.

''Nowadays, people are concerned about price hikes and the difficulty of making a livelihood because we depend on foreign imports, especially grains,” said Saleh. “”For this reason