Yemen. Khat is the paramount crop of Yemen, where it is widely consumed and its use is legal. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (1994-5: 47-8): “It is hard to overestimate the social and economic importance of the stimulant shrub, qat. The majority of Yemenis, women less than men, chew the drug most days from early afternoon to evening. The habit is less prevalent in the southern governates and is rare in the eastern regions.”
Data on khat are largely unrecorded in Yemen’s official statistics, and quantitative assessments are estimates. Some aspects, however, are palpable. According to Tutwiler and Caprisco (1981: 52):“Compared to other perishable crops khat has the highest market value, the lowest water requirements, and demands the least output of heavy labor.” Beyond all question, khat is the preeminent cash crop of the country.
In fact, a 1992 report of the Yemen Times suggested that the value added by the khat sector of Yemen’s economy is equivalent to approximately a quarter of the recorded gross national product and about twice the value resulting from cultivation of all other crops (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 1994-95: 56). The khat industry of Yemen involves landowners and growers, pickers, packers, transporters, wholesalers, and retailers - some 500,000 people, equivalent to about 20 percent of the working population (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 1994-95: 56). A substantial part of government revenue is derived from taxes on khat, although there is little doubt that a large part of the crop escapes levy (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 1994-95: 56).
Until the 1970s, khat was too costly to be used frequently by most of the population. But concurrent with the Gulf oil boom that began in 1973-4, an unprecedented number of workers (more than a third of the potential male labor force in North Yemen) migrated for temporary employment to Saudi Arabia and other petroleum-producing countries in the Gulf (Varisco 1986: 2). Remittances sent home by the migrants (annually about 600 to 800 million dollars in the 1980s) created new wealth and a vastly increased demand for khat at home (Varisco 1986).
The early 1980s were exceptionally profitable years for khat farmers. A survey by Shelagh Weir (1983: 67) of a khat-growing community of 4,000 people in Razih Province, North Yemen, near the Saudi. Arabian border, found that the market value for land yielding two harvests of khat per year was the equivalent of 90,000 U. S. dollars per hectare. Terraced land, on which two to three harvests of khat per year are common, sold for the equivalent of 200,000 to 600,000 dollars per hectare (Weir 1983: 67). Most holdings range between 0.15 and 0.5 hectares. In 1980, in the district of Rada, a major area of khat production, the estimated net profit of a khat farmer in the second year after the crop matured was the equivalent of about 37,000 dollars per hectare (Varisco 1986:4).
Critics of the institutionalized use of khat have argued that the transcendent position of C. edulis in agriculture has depressed the production of other crops, including the staple grains, and that the large expenditure for khat drains family income that would better be spent on food. Indeed, since the 1970s, importation of foodstuffs has greatly increased in Yemen, and highly processed imported foods have brought changes to the traditional diet (Nyrop 1985: 108). Cereal imports increased 133 percent between 1987 and 1990 and accounted for 16 percent of total imports, compared with 11 percent in 1987 (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 1992: 39).
The economy suffered a severe blow, however, when in late 1990, the government of Saudi. Arabia expelled all Yemeni migrant workers, terminating Yemen’s main source of foreign exchange. The sudden return of some 850,000 Yemenis to their homeland, and the additional loss of about 1 billion dollars annually in foreign aid from the Arab oil-producing states, had drastic effects on the economy. In mid-1994, unemployment was about 25 percent, and the rate of inflation was about 100 percent annually (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 1994-95:48-9).
Although export of khat from Yemen had ceased in 1974, there are unofficial reports that the depressed economy has prompted efforts in Yemen to increase its export of khat by air to markets in Africa and Europe.
North Yemen (the former Yemen Arab Republic). According to Kennedy, who directed an extensive program of team research on the sociomedical aspects of khat in Yemen during the mid-1970s, “No other society is so influenced by the use of a drug as is North Yemen by the use of qat” (1987: 78). He added that from 80 to 90 percent of adult men and 30 to 60 percent of adult women chew khat more than once each week.
About 70 percent of the country’s khat is produced in three areas of the western highlands: the district of San a; the province of Ibb, Yemen’s overall leading agricultural region; and Jabel Sabr (elevation 3,005 meters), the terraced mountain that overlooks the town of Ta’izz and is the oldest and most famous khat-growing area in Arabia (Revri 1983: 16). The greater part of Yemen’s khat is consumed in the western interior mountains and plateaus where the majority of the population is located, but freshly harvested leaves are trucked daily from the high elevations, where it is grown, to settlements in the hot, dry coastal plain bordering the Red Sea.
Chewing during the long afternoons in gatherings of friends and acquaintances is a ritual in Yemeni culture that provides a focal point for social contact, informal business dealings, discussion of current events, mediation of disputes, and the free exchange of ideas in a friendly, relaxed milieu. In general, the ubiquitous afternoon “khat party” is a social ritual that underscores the institutionalized role of khat in Yemeni culture and accounts for the major part of the consumption of the drug in the country. Most such parties take place in private residences. They are “open house” affairs, and anyone may participate.
The houses of wealthy urban families have a special room for khat parties called al Mafraj, “a place for joyful gatherings” (Weir 1985: 110-11). As a paradigm, it is located with a pleasing overlook on the highest floor of the house, and a large window, extending almost to floor level, provides a good view for the seated guests. Yet, it is the custom that the door and the windows of the mufraj be closed during a khat party. During even ordinary sessions, the room is usually crowded with participants who exult in the oppressive heat and humidity and the smoke from cigarettes and the waterpipe. Users believe that the use of tobacco is essential to the enjoyment of khat chewing (Kennedy 1987: 86). Because khat inhibits urination and defecation by the constriction of muscular vessels, chewers have the ability to remain seated throughout the session for the customary 4 or 5 hours (Kennedy 1987:115).
The societies of the khat-chewing countries are segregated by sex, and although men are the main users of the drug, women constitute a significant minority of users. The widespread popularity of khat with women is a fairly recent phenomenon. During the 1970s and 1980s, a period of unprecedented prosperity in Yemen, the domestic chores of both urban and rural women were greatly reduced by technological innovations, such as powered flour mills, piped water supply, and the availability of motor transport. The time available to women for social gatherings was substantially increased, and at a growing proportion of these gatherings, khat was consumed (Weir 1985:90-1).
South Yemen (the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen). The strong market for khat in South Yemen is only to a small extent supplied by local production, and (despite some interruptions) for more than a century and a half, the farmed land near Ibb in North Yemen has been the main source of South Yemen’s khat. From this major center of production, the drug is transported to markets in the port of Aden (population about 420,000), Yemen’s commercial capital.
Until about the time of World War II, khat was transported from Ibb to Lahej by camel caravans, which were subject to pillage en route. Armed raiders pulled the camel loads to pieces in order to “extract a few choice bundles [of khat], with the result that the loads arrived in Aden dried up and unfit for human consumption” (Ingrams 1966:106).
The government adopted an anti-khat policy, and in 1977, the use and sale of the leaf were limited by law to one day per week (Friday). This restriction, however, ended in 1990 when the two Yemens united.
Saudi Arabia. The small province of Jizan in the southwestern corner of Saudi Arabia is the only part of that country in which consumption of khat is of consequence. The mountain tribespeople in Jizan, settled in rugged highland terrain and in relative isolation, have historically maintained a large measure of autonomy in their internal affairs. The growing and usage of C. edulis is centuries old in the uplands of the province, but at present, because of the government’s determination to abolish the plant and its use, cultivation of khat exists chiefly, if at all, covertly in the Fayfa area of Jizan. Schopen (1978: 65) identified Jebel Fayfa as the northern limit of khat cultivation in Arabia.
Israel. In the nineteenth century, khat growing was introduced by Yemenite Jews to the region of
Ottoman-ruled Palestine that later became the modern state of Israel (Erich Isaac 1995, personal communication). Large-scale migration of Jews from Yemen began in 1882. By 1948, when Israel was established, about a third of the Jewish population of Yemen had emigrated. The exodus of almost all Jews remaining in Yemen (about 50,000) was accomplished by air transport to Israel, beginning with “Operation on Eagles’ Wings” in 1949 (Jerusalem Post September 19-25, International Edition 1982: 20).
It was a common practice of Yemeni migrant families to bring shoots of “gat” (C. edulis) with them to be planted in home gardens of their new settlements, and in Israel, the cultivation and consumption of khat remain almost exclusively the practices of Yemenite Jews. Immigrant Ethiopian Jews are reported to chew the leaf, as do some young Ashkenazis, who are attracted by the exotic nature of the drug (High on gat 1996: 16). Most khat is consumed by its growers, but the fresh leaves can be found for sale (legally) in some of the open-air “oriental markets” (Arnon Soffer, 1995, personal communication; D. Hemo, 1995, personal communication). A khat-based frozen concentrate, “Pisgat,” is made and sold in Israel as a health food. Its maker is reported to claim that the psychotropic effect of two tablespoons of Pisgat (mixed with water or soya milk, or added to ice cream) is equivalent to that achieved by several hours of chewing fresh khat (High on gat 1996:17). In 1952, the ministry of health reported to the Knesset that although C. edulis was a stimulant, there was no reason to ban the leaf; since then, this official view has prevailed.
Afghanistan and Turkestan. In scientific literature, there are a few brief uncorroborated references to the occurrence of the khat plant in Afghanistan and “Turkestan,” that is, southcentral Asia. One reference, the most credible, is a two-paragraph communication titled “Catha Edulis,” by E J. Owen, published early this century in a British chemical journal. Owen, an analytical chemist employed by the government of Afghanistan, reported his observations of the use of khat as a beverage by. Afghans in Kabul:
The plant is found in the south of Turkestan and certain parts of Afghanistan to the east of Kabul. . . . After inspecting a specimen brought to me for analysis I recognized it as the Catha edulis plant. The natives say that men by its aid can do long marches at night without feeling the least fatigue, also that among the wrestling fraternity here it is used on a large scale, as it greatly increases the muscular powers of the men. . . . It is drunk by many Afghans as a substitute for tea (1910: 1091).
Although more than 80 years have passed since the publication of Owen’s communication, however, the existence of khat in Afghanistan (or in any other country in southcentral Asia) is still unconfirmed.
Africa: General Distribution
C. edulis occurs wild and as a cultivated plant in eastern and eastcentral. Africa. Wild stands grow sporadically in highlands from the northeastern Horn of Africa to the Sneeuberge Range in the far south of the continent. The plant is reported to be found in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and the Republic of South. Africa.
Ethiopia. Khat is grown in at least 9 (of the 14) administrative areas (provinces) of Ethiopia (Revri 1983: 5).The plant is a prominently cultivated crop in the plow - and grain-farming complex of Harerge and eastern. Arsi provinces and is frequently part of the planting complex of the Kefa and the Galla (Oromo) ethnic groups in the Kefa Province where khat ranks second to coffee as a cash crop (Westphal 1975).
The main area of khat cultivation is the Harer Plateau - in the eastern section of Ethiopia’s Central Highlands - with commercial centers of production in the administrative subdistricts of Harer, Webera, Garamulata, Chercher, and Dire Dawa (Assefa 1983: 73).All of these are within a radius of 100 kilometers (km) from the city of Harer, where according to local tradition, khat was first domesticated. In any case, its cultivation and use at Harer is older and economically more significant than in other areas in Ethiopia.
Small farm villages are scattered throughout these highlands of Harer, and at elevations between 1,500 and 2,100 meters, climate and soils are favorable for the production of a wide variety of field, garden, and tree crops. Rotation and terracing are practiced, as is irrigation where possible. Durra grain sorghum (Sorghum vulgare) is the predominant food crop, and khat is the most valuable cash crop (Brooke 1958: 192) - replacing coffee, which held that position until the middle of the twentieth century. Coffee fell from favor with Hareri farmers after World War II, chiefly because of low prices fixed by the government.
In 1949, Ethiopian. Airlines introduced commercial air transportation of freshly cut khat from Ethiopia to Djibouti (Erench Somaliland) and to the British Crown Colony of Aden (now South Yemen). Transport of the perishable leaves by air was a commercial success from the start. However, the military junta that deposed the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, and held power during the years 1975 to 1991, sought to suppress its cultivation. Strong measures were employed to achieve that goal (Rushby 1995: 17), but since the end of civil war and the inauguration of a new coalition government in 1991, khat production has resumed without interference.
The export of khat officially earned 16 million U. S. dollars in 1993-4, establishing the drug as Ethiopia’s fifth-largest source of revenue (Rushby 1995: 17). Illicit trade in the leaf (smuggling and by other means avoiding excise) probably generates at least as much revenue as the official figures.
Khat is airfreighted twice weekly from Dire Dawa to London and Frankfurt, where it is sold to Ethiopian, Somali, and Yemeni expatriate communi-ties. A small bundle of the leaves, sufficient for two or three hours of chewing, sells in Germany and the United Kingdom for the equivalent of between 6 and 7.50 U. S. dollars (Rusby 1995: 16-17). Ethiopian exports of khat to Europe compete with those from Kenya and Yemen.
Djibouti. The Republic of Djibouti (population about 400,000) is a major consumer of khat. Almost all of the drug is airfreighted from Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, where international cargo flights with freshly cut khat were inaugurated in 1949.The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (1989: 56) has estimated that as much as 12 tons of khat, valued at about 40 million U. S. dollars, enter Djibouti daily.
Somalia. Indigenous production of C. edulis in Somalia is small, and most of the khat consumed in this country is imported from Kenya and Ethiopia. Prior to the creation of the Somali Republic by the merger in 1960 of the (British) Somaliland Protectorate and Italian Somaliland, khat, on a small scale, was mainly used in the city of Hargeysa, the administrative center of the British dependency. After World War II, khat use in the protectorate increased considerably in spite of an official ban on the drug. Severe measures were taken by the colonial government to suppress the khat trade - drivers of trucks used for its transport were jailed and their vehicles destroyed (Elmi 1983: 166). But prohibition proved futile and, in 1957, the protectorate replaced the ban on khat with an import tax on the leaf (Brooke 1960: 57).
After the two Somalilands joined as a republic in 1960, the use of khat rapidly gained popularity in the “Southern Regions” (the former Italian Somaliland), coinciding with increased urbanization and the improvement of surface and air transportation. For two decades the government attempted simply to discourage the practice and finally proscribed it in 1983.
Enforcement efforts, however, were not effective, and as a consequence of the civil war that began in 1991 and the continuing political turmoil, there are no legal restrictions on khat in Somalia at the present time. In fact, it is believed that strife in the capital, Mogadishu, is fueled by the struggle among clan leaders for control of lucrative khat imports and distribution. The value of khat, it is reported, far exceeds that of any other commodity that Somalia imports, including food and weapons (Randall 1993: 15).
In the northern administrative regions of Somalia, the chief market for khat is the city of Hargeysa. A small amount of khat is locally cultivated, but most is imported by trucks from the Harer area in Ethiopia.
Kenya. The preeminent khat-growing area of Kenya is the Nyambeni Hills of the Meru District, extending northeast from the foot of Mt. Kenya for about 120 km. Khat that is cultivated and sold under license by farmers of the Meru ethnic group is the main source of the leaf for consumers in Kenya and for export to Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zaire, and Zambia (Matai 1983:88).
From local market towns, khat is transported to Nairobi - a fast four-hour drive - or by air from Isiolo to northern market towns. The khat trade is highly seasonal. Shortages and high prices prevail at markets during the months from June to October, when new growth of leaves and shoots is at a minimum (Hjort 1974: 29).
Somalia is the main export market. Every day at dawn, some 15 to 20 airplanes, each with about a ton of khat stuffed in burlap bags, take off for Somalia from Nairobi International Airport. Other flights leave from the town of Meru to smaller markets for khat in Tanzania and Uganda (Lorch 1994: A8). Khat is also flown as cargo from Nairobi to Britain, where it is a legal import. London and Cardiff, where many of the dockworkers are Somalis, are major markets.
The Western Indian Ocean Region
Madagascar. The cultivation, sale, and consumption of khat are legal in Madagascar, where the drug is grown and consumed chiefly by members of the Antakarana ethnic group in the northern extremity of the island. Local names for the plant are “katy” and “gat” (Thomas Herlehy and Daniel Randiriamanalina, 1995, personal communication).
The introduction and early history of khat in Madagascar is obscure. It is possible that C. edulis was first brought to the island by Arab traders and immigrants several hundred years ago. Louis Molet (1967: 25) postulated that khat was introduced and spread by Yemeni Arabs and later by Muslims from the Comoro Archipelago. Traders from Kilwa and from Zanzibar may also have played a role in the introduction of khat to Madagascar. In any case, for generations, immigrants from Yemen and the Comoro Islands have settled among the Antakarana and Sakalava ethnic groups in northern Madagascar.
A minority of the population, commonly referred to as “Arabs,” are of mixed Yemeni, Comoran, and Malagasy ancestry. They profess Islam, affect Arab (Yemeni) dress, and are said to be foremost in the commercial production of khat (Sharp 1995, personal communication).
It is mostly men that use khat, but the number of women users is said to be increasing. The retail price of a bundle of khat is about 5,000 Malagasy francs (approximately $1.25), which is expensive for most consumers (Sharp 1995, personal communication). As in Yemen, saliva and the juice of the leaves are swallowed, and the residue of chewed leaves is expectorated.
Methods of Khat Consumption Khat as a Beverage
The practice of drinking water infusions and decoctions of khat is very old but today accounts for a smaller part of khat consumption than in the past. Fresh leaves for chewing, now widely available, provide users with much more psychostimulation than desiccated, boiled leaves. Nevertheless, khat prepared as a beverage is mildly stimulating, and some writers have extolled it as “an excellent beverage plant and worthy of exploitation” (Hill 1952: 481). “The leaf [has] a slightly bitter flavor with a strong, sweet taste of liquorice and has been regarded as nourishing” (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk 1962:179).
Catha edulis is one of many plants in. Africa used to make “bush tea.” In the Cape Province of South Africa, bush teas are popular as tonics and as treatments for urinary and digestive problems. J. M. Watt and M. G. Breyer-Brandwijk (1962: 590) have described two methods of preparing bush tea from young twigs and leaves of the khat tree. In one, flowering shoots are first fermented by being piled in a heap and then allowed to dry. In the other, the leaves are “sweated” in an oven before they are dried in the sun. According to Watt, well-prepared bush tea has a sweet aroma (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk 1962: 590).
W. Cornwallis Harris, who traveled widely in Ethiopia during the years 1841 and 1842, reported that leaves of khat, well dried in the sun, were either chewed, boiled in milk, or infused in water. “By the addition of honey,” wrote Harris, “a pleasant beverage is produced, which being bitter and stimulative, dispels sleep if used to excess” (1844: 423-4). In the region of Ifat (Welo Province), he found that the fresh leaves were chewed as an astringent medicine or taken to dispel sleep, “a decoction in water or milk being drunk as a beverage, which tastes bitter enough” (Harris 1844: 407). According to Simoons (1960: 115), Christians in Debra Tabor (Gondar Province, Ethiopia) use khat leaves to flavor mead (tedj). The addition of tedj to a water infusion of khat yields a brown, bitter, mildly intoxicating beverage (Schopen 1978:85).
Khat as a Masticatory
The chewing of fresh leaves and stem tips is the most common way of using khat as a psychostimulant. Everywhere the technique is much the same. Derek Peters (1952: 36) describes how khat is used as a masticatory in Somaliland. From the user’s supply of fresh khat, tender leaves and shoots are carefully selected and stripped from a few branches, compressed into a small mass, placed in the mouth, and chewed. Saliva and plant juices are swallowed. Copious amounts of cold water or other cold beverages are drunk. After 10 to 15 minutes of chewing, most of the juices are extracted from the wad. The process is repeated until - after 3 or 4 hours - the user’s supply of khat is exhausted. According to Weir (1985: 97), most consumers chew about 100 to 150 grams of picked leaves in one session; some chew as few as 50 grams, and a minority chew more than 200 grams.
In Yemen, the residue of chewed leaves in the mouth is not swallowed but compressed into a wad and stowed in one cheek (Kennedy 1987: 88). At the end of the chewing session it is expelled into a spittoon. In Ethiopia and East. Africa, the chewed parts of the leaves are swallowed with the juice and saliva. Amare Getahun and A. D. Krikorian (1973: 371-2) have suggested that ingested residue may be an important part of the daily intake of food, especially in the case of heavy users of the drug. Other investigators suspect that tannin in the residue may be responsible for the gastrointestinal discomfort that is common among khat chewers.
Khat as a Paste
In Ethiopia, water and honey are added to crushed, dried leaves of khat, and the ingredients are worked into a paste. In Somalia, a paste is made of finely ground dried khat, water, sugar, cardamom, and cloves. Khat paste is commonly eaten by the elderly and by travelers, according to Schopen (1978:84-5).
Other Modes of Use
Not uncommonly, elderly persons, if unable to chew effectively, pound fresh leaves of khat in a small mortar (which they carry on their person) and drink the juice (Brooke 1960: 53; Kennedy 1987: 88). In eighteenth-century Yemen, travelers and old persons used madquq, which is simply khat that is pressed and left to dry in a darkened room for seven days and then pulverized by mortar and pestle. A portion of the dry, granular khat is placed in the mouth, mixed with saliva, and swallowed (Schopen 1978:86).
There are also brief references in the literature to the practice of smoking khat. For example,“The dried leaves [in Africa] are also sometimes smoked” (Mar-getts 1967: 358), and “In. Arabia the leaves may be dried and smoked like tobacco” (Greenway 1947: 99). Y Z. Hes mentions that in the towns of Yemen, there are places where one may go in order to make and smoke khat cigarettes (1970: 283-4). But today, with the widespread availability of the freshly cut product, this method of consumption appears to be little used.
World History
