The Grass and Forage Crops Value Chain in Yemen

Introduction

Forage crops and grasses belonging to the Poaceae (grasses) and Fabaceae (legumes) families constitute the fundamental pillar of global food security and animal production systems. Following a historical trajectory where the domestication and evolution of ruminants were linked to grazing in natural plains and meadows, the scientific leap of the 20th century resulted in extensive improvements to high-yielding tropical and subtropical grass strains in terms of biomass. Prominent among these are Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), Elephant grass or Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus / Pennisetum purpureum), Sudan grass, and forage sorghum (Sorghum spp.), in addition to Alfalfa (Medicago sativa). The international economic significance of these crops is reflected in the global market size for the green and dried forage trade and industry, which exceeds 140 billion USD, with a compound annual growth rate surpassing 5.2%. This growth is driven by the increasing demand for dairy and red meat products. Rhodes grass and alfalfa capture the largest share of regional and international trade, with global trading volumes exceeding 12 million metric tons of dried and compressed forage annually. These flows are primarily directed toward markets in the Middle East, North Africa, and East Asia to meet the requirements of intensive animal production projects in water-scarce environments.

Locally, Yemeni agriculture has undergone a structural transformation following decades of traditional reliance on natural mountainous and desert pastures, as well as field crop residues such as sorghum, millet, and straw stalks. The cultivation of irrigated perennial grasses (particularly Rhodes and Elephant grasses) emerged as an independent and profitable commercial economic activity in the early 1980s, propelled by the proliferation of artesian wells and major development projects such as the Tihama Development Authority and the deltas of Abyan, Tuban, and Wadi Hadhramaut. This shift has established a comparative advantage for the national product, supported by perennial sunshine and a warm climate in the plains and valleys. This allows for harvesting between 8 and 12 cuts annually, compared to only 4 to 6 cuts in temperate zones globally. Furthermore, environmental diversity enables the flourishing of fast-growing tropical grasses in the plains of Tihama, Abyan, and Lahj, while alfalfa and forage sorghum excel in the mountainous highlands and central valleys.

Alongside their role as a primary mechanism for generating periodic (weekly and monthly) cash flow that enables smallholder rural farmers to meet living expenses, pump water, and purchase inputs, these crops represent the vital foundation of the livestock sector. This sector contributes approximately 20% to 25% to the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP), securing the staple feed for a strategic national herd exceeding 21 million heads of livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, and camels).

Supply and Demand

Indicative field estimates compiled from agricultural zone surveys suggest that the total area cultivated with green forage, as well as irrigated and rain-fed grasses, is estimated at 130,000 to 165,000 hectares. This encompasses perennial gramineous grasses, forage sorghum, green stalks, and alfalfa (Qadhb) fields. This reflects on the total production volume of green biomass, ranging between 1.8 and 2.4 million metric tons annually, while the estimated production volume in terms of Dry Matter is approximately 450,000 to 600,000 metric tons per year. The following table illustrates the areas of production concentration, common varieties, and their respective irrigation patterns.

Agricultural Zone / Governorates	Common Grass Varieties	Estimated Productivity (Green Ton/Hectare/Year)	Prevailing Irrigation Pattern and Water Source
Tihama Region (Al Hudaydah, Hajjah)	Rhodes grass, Forage sorghum (green stalks), Elephant grass (Napier)	60 – 100	Groundwater (solar energy and diesel) and seasonal floods
Deltas and Southern Plains (Abyan, Lahj)	Rhodes grass, Forage millet, Sudan grass	50 – 85	Spate and flood irrigation combined with groundwater
Wadi Hadhramaut and Al Mahrah	Rhodes grass, Desert grasses, and Alfalfa	45 – 75	Deep artesian groundwater wells
Mountainous Highlands (Sana’a, Dhamar, Ibb, Amran, Taiz)	Local forage sorghum, Alfalfa, Local grasses	30 – 55	Spring irrigation, shallow wells, and supplementary rain-fed irrigation

Regarding the production and consumption gap and foreign trade movement, Yemen suffers from a severe structural deficit in the availability of green and dried forage biomass, estimated at 35% to 45% compared to the optimal nutritional requirements of the national herd. This gap critically exacerbates during extended drought periods in winter and early summer. In terms of consumption, 100% of grass and forage production is directed locally to feed livestock herds in villages and commercial dairy and fattening farms surrounding major cities (Sana’a, Al Hudaydah, Taiz, Aden, Dhamar). Conversely, exports of raw grasses and forage are completely non-existent (0%); this is due to the full absorption of produced quantities within the local market and in compliance with legislative and water-related regulations aimed at protecting groundwater reserves.

Value Chain Stages Analysis

1. Inputs Stage

Energy and pumping water dominate the operational cost structure in the forage production inputs stage, accounting for 40% to 55% of the total cost in artesian well farms reliant on diesel fuel. Meanwhile, these ongoing cash expenditures decrease to between 15% and 20% in farms that have transitioned to solar energy systems, though the burden of the initial capital depreciation for panels and submersible pumps remains. The remaining expenses are distributed among fertilizers and soil conditioners at 18% to 24%—as intensive production farms rely heavily on high nitrogen fertilization using 46% urea fertilizer at a rate of 50 to 80 kg per hectare after each cut, alongside DAP fertilizer during establishment and limited use of fermented organic manure. Soil preparation and field labor (including cross-plowing, furrowing, and canal trenching) account for about 15% to 20%, while seeds and vegetative cuttings consume approximately 12% to 15% of the establishment costs for perennial grass fields, whose life cycle spans 3 to 5 years.

Regarding supply chains and price dependency, seeds for Rhodes and Sudan grasses are almost 100% imported from external sources such as Australia and others. Their commercial varieties (e.g., Katambora, Fine Resource, and Barak) are traded through a network of agents, making them highly sensitive to exchange rate fluctuations, shipping costs, and customs duties. This also applies to fully imported chemical fertilizers, which are subject to market volatility, regulatory restrictions, and rising internal transport costs. Conversely, Elephant grass (Napier) cuttings are 100% locally propagated and traded among farmers and nurseries through the sale of segmented stem bundles, each containing 3 to 4 vegetative buds.

The quality of these inputs directly reflects on the agricultural yield. Reliance on certified, high-purity imported Rhodes seeds (with a germination rate exceeding 80%) contributes to increasing the per-hectare productivity by 30% to 40% compared to counterfeit or poorly stored local seeds that cause poor germination and the spread of invasive weeds. Overall, the capital establishment cost per hectare in the first year is estimated at 1,800 to 2,600 USD, covering seeds, cuttings, leveling, plowing, foundational fertilization, and planting wages. Subsequent annual operational costs range between 900 and 1,400 USD per hectare to cover pumping water, periodic urea fertilization, and manual weeding.

2. Production Stage

Field practices in the forage and grass production stage are characterized by an almost absolute predominance of surface flood irrigation through earthen basins and unlined, open sandy canals. This causes a water loss ranging between 45% and 55% due to high evaporation and deep percolation, amidst a scarcity in the application of modern irrigation systems (such as micro-pivot sprinklers or drip irrigation), which do not exceed 5% of total areas. Fields are harvested manually by field labor using traditional sickles; the cutting cycle in the hot plains (Tihama, Abyan, and Lahj) ranges from 24 to 30 days in summer and extends to 40–55 days in winter, achieving between 8 and 11 cuts annually for Rhodes and Napier grasses in coastal areas, compared to 4 to 6 cuts in cold highlands. This is accompanied by a deficiency in plant nutrition management resulting from the exclusive focus on urea fertilizer to stimulate rapid growth and elongation, while completely neglecting potassium, phosphorus, and micronutrients. This depletes soil fertility after the second year and weakens plant robustness and nutritional value, creating a yield gap of up to 40%–50% in favor of model farms that rely on balanced fertilization and regular irrigation.

The production environment faces a set of critical limitations and risks, foremost among them being the severe depletion of groundwater, rapid decline in water levels in the Tihama, Sana’a, Hadhramaut, and Saada basins, and rising salinity in well water and soil due to over-extraction and seawater intrusion along the coastal strip. This leads to the stunting of Rhodes grass plants and a decline in their palatability to animals, in addition to the deterioration of field productivity after the third year due to the invasion of nutgrass, mesquite, ghaf, and thorny shrubs. This forces the farmer to plow the field and re-establish it at a high cost. Combined, these conditions translate into an average productivity ranging between 50 and 80 tons of green biomass per hectare annually for perennial gramineous grasses in the plains (dropping to 30–45 tons/hectare/year in rain-fed and highland forage areas), while the estimated field cost to produce one green ton on the farm ranges between 22 and 34 USD.

3. Post-Harvest Processing Stage

Following the harvest, grasses and forage undergo a series of field and transportation operations. After being cut with sickles, they are left for a brief period ranging from 1 to 3 hours for ventilation and the removal of morning dew. They are then manually gathered into cylindrical bundles weighing between 3 and 6 kg and tied with fibrous ropes or recycled plastic strips. If dry hay is being produced, the grasses are spread under direct sunlight on the soil for 2 to 4 days and turned randomly without shades, which exposes them to severe loss of nutrient-rich leaves. Green bundles, on the other hand, are immediately loaded onto open transport trucks and stacked to heights exceeding 3 to 4 meters. They are transported across rugged mountain ranges from the coastal plains to highland cities (Sana’a, Dhamar, Taiz) in journeys taking 6 to 18 hours, amidst an absolute absence of cooling rooms or ventilated trucks.

These practices cause severe quantitative and qualitative losses. The quantitative loss of biomass ranges between 10% and 15% due to leaf breakage, bundle dropping, and the rapid rotting of the compressed lower parts inside the trucks caused by heat and moisture trapping (composting/thermal fermentation). Meanwhile, the qualitative loss and nutritional value depletion amount to 25% to 35% of crude protein content, Vitamin A, and total digestible energy, driven by photodegradation, plant auto-respiration, and random anaerobic fermentation. Financially, these losses translate into cumulative indicative estimates reaching between 26 and 36 million USD annually at the national level due to forage spoilage during the post-harvest and transportation stages.

The proportion of grass crops subjected to genuine transformative and processing operations in the value addition stage is limited to merely 3% to 5% of total national production, while over 95% is consumed as highly perishable fresh green forage or traditional sun-dried hay suffering from poor storage. The establishment of specialized local processing facilities in this field faces numerous obstacles. Foremost among these are the high capital investment costs for heavy automated hay balers and field trailers, the escalating costs of fuel and energy required to operate shredders and mechanical drying equipment, the lack of technical awareness among smallholder farmers regarding the mechanisms and controls of anaerobic fermentation to produce silage, and the scarcity of specialized packaging materials such as UV-treated polyethylene bags and airtight wrapping films.

In a related context, the weak industrial linkage between dry grass raw materials and the by-products of oil presses and food factories represents a wasted economic opportunity. By-products such as cottonseed cake in Al Hudaydah, sesame cake, wheat bran from major mills, tomato pomace, legume factory residues, molasses, and dried fish head powder on the coasts could be utilized to produce complete, inexpensive, locally manufactured feed blends. These transformations hold promising economic viability, as converting green grasses into high-quality mechanically baled hay or wrapped silage yields added profit margins for manufacturers and investors ranging between 30% and 45% compared to selling raw green forage during abundant summer seasons.

4. Processing and Value Addition Stage

The proportion of grasses subjected to genuine transformative and processing operations is limited to merely 3% to 5% of total national production, whereas over 95% is consumed as highly perishable fresh green forage or traditional sun-dried hay suffering from poor storage. This low rate persists despite the high economic viability of processing operations; converting green grasses into high-quality, mechanically baled hay or wrapped silage yields added profit margins for manufacturers and investors ranging between 30% and 45% compared to selling them as traditional green forage during the abundant summer seasons.

The underdevelopment of this transformative activity is attributed to a set of obstacles facing local facilities and plants. Foremost among these is the high capital investment cost for heavy automated hay baling lines and field trailers, as well as the lack of technical awareness among smallholder farmers regarding the ensiling and anaerobic fermentation requirements necessary for producing silage. These difficulties are compounded by the high costs of energy and fuel required to operate shredders and mechanical drying equipment, alongside the scarcity of specialized packaging materials, such as UV-treated polyethylene bags and airtight stretch wrapping films.

Furthermore, the weak industrial linkage between dry grass raw materials and the by-products of oil presses and food factories represents a missed economic opportunity. By-products such as cottonseed cake in Al Hudaydah, sesame cake, wheat bran from major mills, tomato pomace, and legume factory residues, in addition to molasses and dried fish head powder in coastal areas, could be utilized to produce complete, inexpensive, locally manufactured feed blends that contribute to enhancing the value chains of agricultural and animal production.

5. Marketing and Sales Stage

Grass pricing in the marketing and sales stage is subject to immediate and seasonal supply and demand mechanisms, being closely linked to rainfall rates in natural pastures. This dynamic is clearly reflected in price movements, which drop by up to 40% during the summer rainy seasons, compared to record leaps ranging between 100% and 150% during winter drought periods, the Eid al-Adha season, and livestock fattening seasons.

Regarding the distribution of value and risks across the marketing chain, the farmer (producer) captures the largest share, ranging between 48% and 54% of the product’s final value in exchange for field production, irrigation, fertilization, cutting, and baling operations, while simultaneously bearing the highest levels of operational risks and costs associated with energy, inputs, and well depletion. The collection and transport middleman follows with a share of 16% to 20% in exchange for direct purchasing, loading, and mountainous inter-governorate transport under the burden of road risks, levies, and cargo spoilage and overheating. Meanwhile, wholesale market brokers (auctioneers) deduct a share ranging between 6% and 9% in return for managing daily auctions and organizing sales yards, facing a low risk level limited to collecting brokerage commissions without bearing spoilage losses. Retailers in forage markets capture 20% to 26% for unpacking loads and selling in small bundles to breeders and farms, bearing the risks of forage wilting, drying, and daily weight loss. Although the farmer receiving nearly half of the final price in city markets appears superficially equitable, their true net return is continuously eroded by the exorbitant capital and operational costs of water pumping and the maintenance of solar systems and submersible pumps.

Value Chain Map and Actors

Matrix of Key Actors in the Chain

Key Actor	Role and Responsibilities	Available Opportunities	Main Challenges and Risks
Input Suppliers	Importing and distributing seeds, irrigation networks, solar energy systems, and fertilizers	Expanding the supply of modern sprinkler irrigation technologies and importing drought- and salinity-tolerant forage seeds	Exchange rate fluctuations, customs duties, and the proliferation of poor-quality commercial seeds of unknown origin
Farmers and Producers	Managing field operations, irrigation, fertilization, and periodic crop harvesting	Introducing water-saving varieties and transitioning towards contract farming with dairy and fattening farms	Deterioration of groundwater levels, high fertilizer costs, and weak extension knowledge of balanced fertilization
Cutting and Baling Labor	Manual cutting with sickles, sorting, preparing, and tying bundles	Organizing labor into technical service groups and utilizing light manual mechanical mowers	Harsh field working conditions, low efficiency and speed, and high wages of seasonal labor
Transport Drivers and Middlemen	Transporting bundles from coastal plains to highland and city markets	Investing in ventilated transport trailers and applying field baling technologies to increase payload and reduce transport costs	Rugged mountain roads, levy checkpoints, and forage spoilage and fermentation due to high temperatures
Wholesale Market Brokers	Organizing daily auction yards in cities and determining real-time prices	Introducing weighbridges and digital platforms for price transparency based on Dry Matter	Randomness in market management and imposing commissions without providing unloading, shading, and preservation services
Forage Retailers	Selling daily bundles to urban cattle breeders and fattening barns	Establishing shaded and improved points of sale and using mist sprayers to preserve forage freshness	Rapid drying of bundles and loss of weight and moisture under the sun, and fluctuating daily purchasing traffic
Final Consumer (Breeders)	Feeding cattle, goats, and sheep to produce milk and meat	Mixing green grasses with silage and concentrates to increase feed conversion efficiency and reduce costs	High forage prices, which represent over 65% of the operational cost of meat and dairy production

Relevant Stakeholders

Stakeholder	Current Role in the Chain	Shortcomings and Weaknesses	Proposals for Institutional Development and Improvement
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries	Setting public policies, seed regulation, and water resources management	Weak enforcement of legislation regulating water-depleting forage cultivation and absence of a national forage strategy	Approving conditional incentives for modern irrigation technologies, banning the cultivation of water-intensive grasses in critical basins, and supporting forage alternatives
Agricultural Research and Extension Authority (AREA)	Conducting research trials and breeding suitable forage strains	Scarcity of operational and laboratory budgets and poor dissemination of research outputs to farmers in the field	Launching training demonstration and extension fields on silage and forage preservation technologies, and multiplying mother seeds of water-saving varieties
Development Funds and Organizations (SFD, SMEPS, FAO)	Financing emergency interventions and distributing seeds and energy systems	Focus on short-term relief interventions and limited support for collective forage manufacturing and preservation projects	Financing specialized rural Silage Hubs and supporting farmers’ associations with automated hay balers
Private Sector (Dairy companies and feed factories)	Direct purchasing of grasses from markets and middlemen	Absence of production partnerships and long-term contract farming with agricultural associations	Building contract farming models that provide inputs and technical supervision to farmers in exchange for receiving forage crops to standard specifications

Matrix of Strategic Interventions for Chain Development

Based on the detailed analysis and field diagnosis of the constraints and bottlenecks in the grass and forage sector (Stage 3) and the map of actors and partners (Stage 4), the strategic interventions center around four integrated executive programs. These are characterized by their direct link to innovative and sustainable financing models that ensure their practical applicability in the Yemeni context:

Intervention Scope and Proposed Project	Detailed Technical and Procedural Interventions	Financing Model and Sustainability Mechanism	Estimated Cost (USD)	Timeframe
1. Production & Water Efficiency	• Transitioning from flood irrigation to micro-sprinkler and mobile rain gun systems in Rhodes and Napier farms. • Introducing hybrid water-saving forage strains (e.g., Brachiaria varieties, Pearl Millet, and spineless forage cactus). • Implementing balanced mineral fertilization programs and organic matter recycling.	Matching Grants: 40% grant from donor agencies (World Bank / FAO) against a 60% soft loan via development banks, recoverable from water pumping savings.	$4,500,000	24 – 36 months
2. Post-Harvest & Mechanization	• Replacing manual sickle cutting with light motorized mowers attached to walking tractors and shoulder brush cutters. • Designing ventilated drying sheds in local collection centers to produce high-protein green hay and protect it from photodegradation. • Training and equipping the transport fleet with insulating mesh covers and ventilated trucks to reduce “composting” and thermal fermentation.	Revolving Green Loans and Financial Leasing: Via development organizations and microfinance banks to purchase equipment for farmers’ associations, with cost recovery as a nominal fee per cut and transport.	$2,200,000	18 – 24 months
3. Processing & Value Addition	• Establishing 15 integrated rural units for producing and packing wrapped silage (Silage Hubs) with a capacity of 20 tons/day per unit. • Localizing the production of integrated feed blocks (Feed Blocks) by mixing grass residues with cottonseed cake, fish waste, molasses, and bran. • Distributing micro-silage bags and barrels to small livestock breeders alongside fermenting bacteria.	Mixed Investment and Public-Private Partnership (PPP): Capital contribution from dairy factories and the private sector at 50%, and development financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Social Fund for Development (SFD) at 50%.	$3,800,000	24 – 36 months
4. Marketing & Contracting	• Building and implementing a binding contract farming model between forage producer associations and major dairy producers and food factories. • Modernizing wholesale markets and equipping them with sheds and weighbridges to sell forage by weight and Dry Matter instead of estimated bundles. • Launching a digital forage market application (electronic platform) to link farmers with breeders and transporters and update prices in real-time.	Self-Recovering Commercial and Investment Financing: Financing the establishment and development of markets from local councils in partnership with Chambers of Commerce, weighing and handling service fees, and technical sponsorship of the platform by telecom operators.	$1,500,000	18 – 24 months

Economic Analysis

The livestock sector in Yemen bears a heavy import burden; the country annually imports massive quantities of concentrated feed raw materials (such as yellow corn, soybean meal, bran, and protein supplements) valued between 280 and 350 million USD to feed the poultry and cattle sectors. This is in addition to the importation of mechanically compressed dried alfalfa bales by commercial companies and major dairy farms at prices reaching 320–450 USD per metric ton delivered to Yemeni ports. In contrast, local trading prices for grasses and forage vary; the price of a green ton at the farm gate ranges between 25 and 38 USD, rising in retail markets for the consumer to between 60 and 95 USD. Meanwhile, the price of traditional dry hay locally ranges between 180 and 270 USD per ton, jumping to approximately 320 USD at the peak of winter.

The adoption of the recommended integrated technical package (based on modern sprinkler irrigation, balanced fertilization, the use of certified pure seeds and cuttings, and light harvesting mechanization) enables a qualitative production shift. This increases the per-hectare productivity of alfalfa and gramineous grasses by 45% to 70%, reaching 85–110 green tons per hectare annually instead of 50–60 tons. This vertical intensification contributes an additional 650,000 to 900,000 metric tons of green biomass nationally per year without expanding agricultural areas, all while reducing total water consumption by 30%. This transformation also directly benefits the national economy and the animal production system by reducing the unit cost of feed by 25%–35%, which in turn cuts the local production cost of milk and red meat by over 20% and enhances the competitiveness of the national product against imports. Furthermore, it shrinks the national forage gap from 45% to less than 15%, protecting livestock from emaciation and mortality during drought seasons, thereby achieving annual foreign exchange savings ranging between 65 and 85 million USD that were previously spent on importing alternative feeds and nutritional supplements.

Capitalizing on these future gains rests on two integrated strategic tracks. The first is expanding the manufacturing ecosystem for value-added products through the production of Alfalfa Pellets & Cubes with a shelf life of up to 18 months without losing nutritional value, and the manufacturing of Total Mixed Ration (TMR) Blocks by combining powdered alfalfa and grasses with oil press by-products (cottonseed and sesame cake), wheat bran, molasses, and coastal fish meal to increase feed conversion efficiency and reduce reliance on imported concentrates. This is alongside the application of high-density baling technology to compress hay, reducing shipment volumes by 60% and lowering internal transport and storage costs.

The second track involves establishing a strategy for smart, water-regulated regional exports targeting markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Horn of Africa, which import millions of tons annually at prices ranging between 300 and 420 USD per ton following their local bans on green forage cultivation. This strategy relies on a conditional mechanism that prohibits the export of depleted groundwater. It restricts exports to high-value-added processed products that yield returns exceeding 350 USD per ton, or forage produced using seasonal spate and floodwaters in the deltas of Tihama, Abyan, Tuban, and Hadhramaut, tertiary-treated wastewater, and water harvesting systems. This ensures the absorption of summer surpluses, protects farmers from price collapses, provides a safe strategic stockpile to face winter droughts, and stabilizes the local market.

Prominent Imported Value-Added Products and Opportunities for Local Import Substitution

Imported Forage Product	Purpose and Use	Available and Developable Local Alternative	Conditions and Requirements for Local Substitution
Commercial Compressed Hay Bales (Alfalfa/Grass Bales)	Feeding high-yielding dairy cows and racehorses	Shade-dried and hydraulically compressed alfalfa, Rhodes, and Napier grass hay	Introducing medium-sized automated balers and adjusting grass moisture before compression to prevent mold
Imported and Wrapped Silage	Providing digestible energy and protein during seasons of scarcity and drought	Forage sorghum and gramineous grass stalk silage treated with molasses	Training local cadres on proper anaerobic fermentation and providing thick silage bags
Concentrated Feed Cubes and Blocks	Nutritional supplements for livestock in drought areas and depleted pastures	Blocks of milled grasses and alfalfa mixed with bran, cottonseed cake, molasses, and urea	Establishing simple local shredding, mixing, and pressing lines in major production areas
Forage Protein Meal	Increasing the protein percentage in daily rations	Alfalfa blends with local cottonseed cake, sesame pressing residues, and fish meal	Strengthening cross-linkages between oil presses, fisheries, and forage associations

Data and Sources

1. Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries (Republic of Yemen):
   • Annual Agricultural Statistics Book, General Directorate of Statistics and Planning (successive issues).
   • Agricultural Sector and Water Resources Development Strategy.
2. Agricultural Research and Extension Authority (AREA):
   • Technical Guide for Cultivating and Improving Forage Crops and Pastures in Arid and Semi-Arid Environments in Yemen, Southern Highlands and Coastal Plain Research Station.
3. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
   • FAOSTAT – Crop and Livestock Production Indices: Yemen Country Profile.
   • Emergency Livelihood and Livestock Feed Interventions in Yemen: Technical Guidelines.
4. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA):
   • Water-Use Efficiency in Forage Production Systems in the Arabian Peninsula and Dry Areas.
5. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank:
   • Yemen Rural Development and Sustainable Livestock-Water Integration Assessment Reports.
6. Agricultural Experts’ Estimates

Notes:

1. The analysis of the green forage and grass value chain in Yemen revealed knowledge and statistical gaps that must be addressed:
   • Absence of an Updated Comprehensive Agricultural Census: The last official comprehensive agricultural census in Yemen dates back to 2002/2003, necessitating reliance on indicative estimates and periodic sample surveys by the Ministry of Agriculture and international organizations.
   • Absence of Internal Forage Trade Registration: Most transactions in central urban forage markets are conducted in cash and informally, without daily documentation records of traded quantities, price levels, and moisture percentages.
   • Scarcity of Water Footprint Studies: A shortage of field economic-water research focused on calculating the net economic return per cubic meter of groundwater used in irrigating grasses compared to other strategic crops.