The General Corporation for the Development and Production of Grains, in cooperation with the Mikhlaf Manqadha Multipurpose Agricultural Cooperative Association, launched on Sunday the harvest and purchase of the bean crop from farmers for the 2025 fall agricultural season in the villages of Mikhlaf Manqadha, Dhamar District.
During the launch, held under the slogan "Together to Achieve Self-Sufficiency in Legumes", Ali Atef, Deputy Governor of Dhamar for the Development Sector, highlighted the role of this initiative in enhancing food security and achieving self-sufficiency in food crops.
He praised the efforts to expand production and provide necessary support for seed supply and crop purchase from farmers, encouraging them to increase production. He emphasized the importance of expanding legume cultivation, managing the import bill, and reducing the food gap through increased production of various cash crops.
Meanwhile, Engineer Samir Al-Hanani, Advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Water Resources, pointed out that Yemen has sufficient bean seeds to expand production and meet domestic market needs, noting that the currently available product possesses several high-quality characteristics.
He stressed the importance of coordinated efforts to reduce production costs and improve quality to compete with imported products and highlighted the need to support initiatives that introduce modern agricultural technologies to lower production costs.
Al-Hanani commended the efforts of the Grain Development and Production Corporation, the Mikhlaf Manqadha Cooperative Association, and the farmers in producing this strategic crop, which contributes to covering the bean import bill, estimated at nearly 27,000 tons annually.
For his part, Engineer Salah Al-Mashreqi, Executive Director of the Grain Development and Production Corporation, reviewed the successes achieved by the corporation through the contract farming program in providing adequate quantities of bean seeds to meet production requirements.
He noted that the crop produced by Mikhlaf Manqadha farmers is designated as seeds to be distributed to various bean-producing agricultural areas in the governorates.
Al-Mashreqi expressed the corporation's aspiration to increase production and gradually cover the import bill to achieve self-sufficiency in beans and other legumes. He urged farmers to learn from the successful experience of Mikhlaf Manqadha farmers and follow the cooperative's example in the region, which has effectively utilized available resources to produce bean quantities that form the basis for supplying seeds to farmers in different agricultural areas.
Dr. Adel Omar, Director of the Agriculture Sector in the governorate, also emphasized the importance of this step in achieving self-sufficiency and called on other agricultural cooperatives to emulate Mikhlaf Manqadha Association and expand production of various crops through the contract farming program.
Engineer Ahmed Shakhb, Chairman of the Board of the Mikhlaf Manqadha Multipurpose Agricultural Cooperative Association, stated that the total cultivated area reached 200 hectares, including 150 hectares of beans and 50 hectares of wheat.
He indicated that the total number of contracted farmers reached 508, including 408 for bean cultivation, expecting the production volume to range between 250 and 300 tons of beans during the fall season.
The launch was attended by the Director of Dhamar District, Mohammed Al-Sayqal; Engineer Samir Al-Madhhaji from the Executive Unit for Road Construction and Maintenance; Samir Khashafa from Development and Training Research; Ibrahim Al-Mahdi from the Agriculture Sector branch in Dhamar; Mohammed Al-Ezzi, Deputy Director of the Zakat Authority branch; Engineer Mohammed Al-Manqadhi, Executive Director of Mikhlaf Manqadha Association; Taufiq Shakhb, Contract Farming Coordinator; and Mohammed Al-Sanhani, Secretary-General of the Governorate Cooperative Union.
Additionally, a meeting was held in Dhamar today, chaired by Engineer Samir Al-Hanani, to discuss the role of agricultural cooperatives in expanding the cultivation of Red Beans and legumes in general.
The meeting, which included the Executive Director of the Grain Development and Production Corporation, a representative of the Bonyan Development Foundation in the central regions, the governorate coordinator, the Secretary-General of the Governorate Cooperative Union, and representatives of multipurpose agricultural cooperatives in Qa' Jahran, Mikhlaf Manqadha, Maghrib Anas, and Al-Haddah, focused on the role of cooperatives in expanding bean and legume production by leveraging the benefits of the contract farming program and managing production costs.
The attendees affirmed the corporation's commitment to supporting agricultural cooperatives by providing seeds, agricultural inputs, and purchasing crops from farmers.