Khat

Cultivation, use and economic consequences of Khat

Khat is a drug.

A khat field. Cultivation of khat consumes large amounts of water.

Irrigation in a field of khat.

Khat was ubiquitious. It was sold openly on the streets of Sana'a and was widely available. Chewing khat was a national passtime. Maybe still is. Hop in a taxi. You’re likely to get a driver with a bulging cheek (and it is always one cheek), who will pick green leaves out of a plastic bag on the seat beside him, and occasionally take a swig out of the plastic bottle full of water or a fizzy drink. The green leaves are khat. The fresher the better and the stronger the effect. Visit the souq. In the afternoons you’ll see shopkeepers and merchants lounging on cushions, relaxing and chewing away. A golfball size wad of khat stuck in one cheek.

Sellers and buyers of khat on the streets of Sana'a. Khat was sold openly.

And it wasn’t only taxi drivers, shopkeepers and merchants. Khat chewing took take place in smart offices. It was chewed socially for centuries in the Horn of Africa, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and parts of West Africa. It was particularly popular in Yemen.

The khat merchant and the khat grower.

During my many visits to Yemen I've no recollection of anyone ever passed a negative remarks about khat chewing.

Khat has similar properties to an amphetamine. It's a stimulant or mild narcotic. The active ingredients in khat, namely cathinone and cathine, are alkaloids. Many alkaloids exhibit pharmacological properties, and cathinone and cathine are no excption. We are all familiar with alkaloids. Examples are caffeine which you'll find in tea and coffee; nicotine in tobacco; quinine from the tonic in your G & T; and morphine which is derived from poppies. The molecular structure of amphetamine is virtually identical to the two active ingredients in khat. In the West these substances are all controlled. Chewing cannot be risk free. However, I didn’t observe any adverse effect on users, other then black, missing and wonky teeth.

Molecular structure of amphetamine.

Molecular structure of cathine and cathinone. The similarity with amphetamine is obvious.

The prevelance of khat is understandable. Many rural Yemenis were poor and must have found it very difficult to make a living. Growing khat made economic sense. Like poppies in Afghanistan, khat is a high-value crop that gave growers a good economic return. Its cultivation created two problem for Yemen. Firstly, khat growing took over productive arable land which could be used for the production of food. It therefore increased Yemens dependence on imported food. Growing of khat contributed to food insecurity. Secondly, khat is a thirsty plant, and its cultivation consumes large amounts of water. Yemen could become the first country in the world to run out of water.

There are many references to khat on the website of the World Bank. A report published in 2000 estimated that the plant accounted for 30% of Yemen’s economy.

Khat growing required large quantities of water. Irrigation works attached to a field of khat.

Khat is restricted or banned in the EU, UK, USA and Canada, and many other countries. In July 2011 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published a paper entitled Khat use in Europe. EMCDDA estimated the number of khat users worldwide at 20 million.


4 Mar 2021