While much of the world’s attention is focused on the war in Ukraine, it is not the only country where farms are being ravaged by conflict.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 and brought hunger and devastation to millions, with farmers often caught in the middle. The Scottish Farmer spoke to Ghaleb Ahmed Al-Hamasi, a 51-year-old coffee farmer who grows coffee for the AlHamasi Foundation coffee company.

His farm is called Wadi Al-Sail, Qaa Al-Ziyah, which is near the village of Akma Al-Saeedeh, which is 120 miles west of the capital, Sana’a.

As Scottish farmers we are obsessed with the weather, what is it like in Akma Al-Saeedeh?

The weather is moderate in summer and moderately cold in winter. The temperature in summer reaches 30°C in the morning and 22°C in the evening, and in winter 24°C in the morning and 12°C in the evening.

What sort of land are you farming?

The land type is terraced, fertile soil and the rainy season is summer.

We are mountainous at 2100m above sea level. It is a terraced steps farm and the number of coffee trees exceeds 30,000 trees. In our area, we removed approximately 1m Qat trees [whose leaves have narcotic properties] and planted coffee trees instead in 2016.

How much coffee does the farm produce?

The amount of coffee that our farms produce depends on seasonal rains and there is no exact statistic. The largest quantity produced from almost all of our farms was in 2022 when we made 15 tonnes.

How do you grow your coffee?

First, we water the farms in the month of March in order for the flowers to complete and then we tend them and water until November of the same year.

It takes approximately 8-9 months for the coffee beans to be ripe and we harvest them in the correct way, and then we transport the coffee beans while they are fresh to our drying centre to dry them for 14-18 days.

They are then collected in bags and we transfer them to the warehouses, and the process of homogenization takes place between the coffee beans for a period of 40-50 days in order to obtain high quality, then we peel them and take out the green coffee bean after purifying it and packing it in bags designated for coffee beans and then exporting it abroad.

How is the coffee sold?

We are facing great difficulty in marketing and exporting them abroad, given problems with the war and blockade, and our inability to participate in international exhibitions and to deliver our products to the external consumer.

What sort of prices do you get?

Depending on the type of coffee and its quality, it ranges from $20-30 per kg. Although there is a huge demand for Yemeni coffee from abroad, unfortunately, with our inability to go out and display our products globally, this led to a decrease in the price.

What is a typical day like for coffee growing at the moment?

A beautiful day, passion and love for the cultivation and production of coffee from farms. Coffee trees have a high status for the Yemeni farmer and for me, I consider each one of them as one of my children.

How has the war affected the farm?

It has a great impact on the cultivation and production of coffee because of the blockade, war, and the rise in oil derivatives prices, which have a great impact on agriculture, water extraction, and the inability to export our agricultural products abroad.

* This article was helped by translation from the Yemeni Scottish Foundation.