Yemen – Farmers use solar energy to irrigate their lands amid high fuel price

Location: Aden, Yemen
Language: Arabic
Duration: 00:03:40
Voice: Natural
Source: A24 Aden
Restriction: A24 subscribers
Date: 03/01/2023
Storyline:
The high prices of petroleum products, especially diesel, in Yemen forced many farmers to use solar energy to operate pumps to extract groundwater to irrigate their crops.
Farmers expressed their satisfaction with the use of the solar irrigation system in light of the scarcity and high prices of the fuel needed to operate the pumps.
Meanwhile, specialists warned of the danger of digging random wells in the depleted groundwater, adding that the use of solar energy for irrigation in large spaces and without engineering planning causes a sharp drop in the water level.
A total of 70 percent of Yemenis, about 29 million, live in rural areas, and more than 50 percent depend on agriculture. Rainfall and groundwater are the main sources of water in Yemen.
Shot list:

• Soundbite (Baligh Abdo Salem – farmer)
  “With regard to alternative energy for the agricultural system, it has reduced the use of manpower and diesel. It has also facilitated the process for farmers and is achieving good results.”

Soundbite (Osama Ali – Agricultural engineer):
Indiscriminate drilling without any engineering or water planning causes the wells to dry up and reduces cultivation, which causes more drought. Farmers suffer from the drought that has destroyed agricultural crops. All this is due to the indiscriminate drilling of wells as well as from water over- extraction