Amidst the agricultural revolution sweeping Yemen, with its unique developments, and in a scene embodying the relentless pursuit of breaking free from foreign dependency, rice cultivation has been revived in Aslam District, Hajjah Governorate, as a strategic crop that is reshaping the map of food security. After decades of systematic neglect, more than 25 hectares of irrigated green spaces have been cultivated this year, driven by significant public interest and direct institutional support from the Agriculture Office and cooperative societies, which have staked their hopes on transforming the forgotten "Brushwood" area into a national food basket.
The figures reveal a qualitative shift in production trajectory for 2025. While last year's yield did not exceed 17 tons, this season's harvest is expected to jump to 30 tons and may even surpass that, reaching 50 tons of rice ready for packaging—a production surge of 40%. This success is the result of a smart investment in the fertile soil and abundant surface water that has flowed from the heavens over the past five years. This has transformed Yemeni farmers from consumers of imported varieties to producers of rice that surpasses all others in quality and purity, competing in nutritional value and authentic taste.
Farmers proudly recount how the experiment began on small, symbolic plots and has now grown into vast, vibrant fields. They affirm that this season is truly a "season of bounty and blessing." Field teams, in collaboration with Aslam Association, have successfully covered the land by providing seedlings and agricultural guidance, culminating in drying and marketing. This integrated process aims to revive the traditional "local rice" seeds and integrate them with high-quality imported varieties, creating a competitive environment that has restored value to both the land and its people.
However, this agricultural ambition continues to be hampered by technical obstacles that impede full growth and productive development. There is a pressing need for modern rice-husking machines capable of handling massive quantities and preserving the grain intact, instead of relying on primitive methods that consume both effort and time. This technological deficiency is a remnant of neglectful policies that the agricultural revolution seeks to overcome. Every watercourse has become a front line of economic resistance, and every grain of rice a symbol of resilience, affirming that Yemen, which once cultivated rice, has returned to making its own decisions from within its land, defying the starvation imposed by the global market through its monopolies and unjust blockad
The return of rice to Aslam is a powerful resurgence of a sovereign crop, opening promising horizons for expanding cultivated areas in various submerged basins. It embodies a living model of cooperation between the community and official bodies to achieve self-sufficiency and fortify the home front with a purely national product that carries the taste of the land and the sweat of resistance.
An Agricultural Revolution Breaks the Chains of Dependence
In this context, Ali Mohammed Al-Jarou, Director of the Agriculture Office in the district, revealed a radical transformation in the production landscape after decades of deliberate neglect of this crop. He emphasized that intensive efforts and insightful research have enabled the expansion of cultivated land this year to exceed 25 hectares, representing a 40% increase in production compared to last year.
He added, "The signs of this success are evident in the transformation of flooded areas into green oases adorned with varieties of traditional local seeds and high-quality imported varieties. The combined efforts of the Agriculture Office, the cooperative society, and the agricultural union have supported farmers with inputs, seedlings, and field guidance, resulting in a yield estimated at approximately 30 tons this season. These figures are expected to multiply hundreds of times over if modern harvesting, husking, and sorting technologies become available."
He pointed out that the reasons behind this popular surge in rice cultivation stem from a growing collective awareness of the need to break free from food dependency, taking advantage of climate change that has raised surface water levels in recent years. This has created an ideal environment with temperatures ranging between 20 and 35 degrees Celsius, conditions that have revived the traditional "local rice" variety, which had disappeared due to the systematic neglect of the agricultural sector by previous regimes. Today, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Center are working to revive, store, and reintroduce these authentic varieties.
He continued, saying, "Despite the continued use of primitive harvesting methods, economic viability has begun to prevail. The crop is marketed through the cooperative at competitive prices reaching 25,000 Yemeni riyals per 50-kilo sack. This has strengthened the resilience of Yemeni farmers in the face of manufactured crises, transforming land that had remained fallow for years into an open arena of confrontation. Through this, Yemenis demonstrate that self-sufficiency is the most effective weapon against the Zionist-American war machine, which relies on starving populations to subjugate their political will."
He concluded by saying: “What Aslam is witnessing today is an act of resistance that embodies the will to be self-sufficient, where every seedling of the Basmati or local variety becomes a nail in the coffin of the import policy, in light of the diligent efforts of the concerned authorities to overcome difficulties and provide modern machinery that will move the directorate from the stage of successful experiments to the stage of large-scale quantitative production that covers the needs of the local market, and cuts off the way for the plansthat seek to bring Yemen to its knees through a loaf of bread and a plate of rice.”
