Chapter
4:
Context
and
contextual
changes
demonstrate
its
socio-‐economic
importance
(and
thus
impact
on
the
society
and
environment)
(from
MetaMeta
Research
and
PAN
Yemen
Consult
2013,
based
on
their
analysis
of
other
reports,
p.14):
• Average
qat
consumption
requires
10
percent
of
people’s
income;
expenditures
on
qat
are
of
the
same
order
of
magnitude
as
expenditures
on
health.
For
the
affluent
population
qat
expenditures
are
even
higher.
• Qat
production
represents
6
percent
of
the
country’s
GDP
in
2005;
• Nearly
one
third
of
the
agricultural
labor
force
is
engaged
in
qat
production
making
it
the
second
largest
source
of
employment
in
the
country
and
exceeding
employment
in
the
public
sector;
• Net
profits
range
from
YER
400,000
to
YER
1,800,000
per
ha
(US$2,500
to
US$11,000
per
ha);
• Formal
consumption
tax
of
20
percent
on
qat
sales,
but
the
collection
rate
of
this
tax
is
very
low:
suggestion
has
been
made
to
improve
enforcement
or
to
reduce
the
consumption
tax
to
10
percent
to
increase
the
total
tax
revenue;
• One-‐third
of
the
total
annual
groundwater
abstraction
of
1.5
BCM
is
used
for
irrigating
qat;
and
• Qat
is
10
to
20
times
more
profitable
than
most
competing
crops.
Figure
4.15:
Structure
of
the
Yemeni
Economy
by
sector
Source:
IFPRI,
2011
The Political Economy in Yemen of Water Management: Conflict Analysis and Recommendations
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