The U.S. has invested billions in humanitarian assistance for Yemen, which includes large quantities of wheat. However, this aid appears to be backfiring, by actually harming local agricultural efforts. Farmers are increasingly using the country’s limited water resources to grow khat, an addictive plant, instead of food crops.
Imported grain creates a competitive disadvantage for Yemeni farmers, driving them further into khat cultivation. This crop, Catha edulis, is not just financially lucrative but also consumes massive amounts of water. Meanwhile, millions of Yemenis are dealing with severe food shortages. And it’s interesting because khat, labeled as an illegal substance in the U.S., has effects akin to drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine, showing just how complex the situation is.
The 2014 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization described khat as dominating daily life in Yemen, highlighting that it takes up around 10 percent of family budgets—with men often spending vast stretches of time chewing it, and even women and children beginning to join in.
Moreover, khat uses about 37 percent of the country’s water resources. Growing it is more economically viable than producing food, despite its high water requirements and lack of nutritional value.
In fact, producing a single bag of khat requires roughly 500 liters of water. Many farmers still use outdated methods that fail to conserve water efficiently. Since that UN report came out, khat farming has surged by over 40 percent, compounded by the instability caused by civil war. Such conditions have made khat production even more valuable despite rising costs for the diesel fuel needed to access groundwater.
This shift in agricultural priorities can be traced back to international influences that encouraged Yemeni leaders in the past to prioritize cash crops over food production. The consequence? A heavy reliance on food imports, which has led to a cycle of subsidies for imported grain, but further disincentivized local grain production.
The influx of aid from Western nations and organizations often came with stipulations that did little to benefit the typical Yemeni, resulting in adverse effects on the economic landscape.
Currently, the humanitarian landscape is dire, with approximately 18.3 million Yemenis experiencing acute food insecurity, marking one of the most pressing humanitarian crises globally.
From 2016 to 2024, U.S. humanitarian commitments to Yemen varied between $800 million and $1.5 billion per year. In 2018, the U.S. donated an impressive 385,000 metric tons of soft white wheat, quantity-wise, this was substantial enough to fill about 17,000 trucks and surpassed China’s total wheat exports for that year. In fact, wheat contributions to Yemen made up roughly 30 percent of all U.S. wheat aid.
Throughout President Trump’s term, however, the U.S. has drastically cut foreign aid, affecting the U.S. Agency for International Development, which previously handled a significant share of assistance to Yemen. The U.S. has historically contributed about 40 percent of all tracked food and emergency relief reaching Yemen.
Compounding matters, there’s a widening funding gap for humanitarian efforts in Yemen; the international community has requested over $2 billion for emergency relief, but only a fraction of that has been funded so far.
While some U.S. assistance remained in 2025, totaling $54 million for Yemen, allocating a portion for nutrition and humanitarian needs, the situation is still precarious.
A Harvard instructor and Yemen analyst, Asher Orkaby, pointed out that the approach of distributing large amounts of grain can actually damage the livelihoods of local farmers who simply can’t compete with free food. He noted that the narrative often simplifies Yemen’s issues into a starvation crisis to attract media attention and donations.
Orkaby strongly advocated for aid models that focus on locally-sourced emergency supplies, highlighting that this could foster self-sufficiency in the future while preventing dependence on imported food provisions.
A Yemeni water expert, Musaed Aklan, emphasized that funding assessments should consider the unique economic and environmental needs of different regions instead of enforcing a blanket strategy. He believes organizations dealing with agricultural and aid resources should answer to local needs rather than distant authorities.
While he proposed various strategies to address these issues, Aklan noted that complete food independence for Yemen wouldn’t be realistic and made clear that food imports would still be crucial to manage food insecurity and protect the limited water supply.
For now, Aklan stressed the importance of tackling the growth of khat cultivation. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the State Department mentioned being aware of the ongoing humanitarian efforts in Yemen but clarified that they don’t support food aid in areas controlled by the Houthis.
