Yemen is starving — and still spends billions chewing a leaf that drinks the last of its water.
Khat (qat): 80–90% of adult men, about half of women, and 15–20% of children under 12. Households have been recorded putting ~30–35% of monthly income into the leaves — sometimes more than food. The market is still quoted around $12 billion a year.
Farms rip out coffee and grain because the shrub pays. It takes roughly 40% of Yemen’s renewable water and ~30% of groundwater.
Aid agencies call this one of the world’s worst hunger crises. The afternoon “truce” is chewing time. War didn’t kill the habit. WhatsApp delivers it.
Not tea. An amphetamine-class stimulant. A country running out of water is irrigating an addiction.