Khat - Cultivation and Uses

Cultivation and Uses

The khat plant is known by a variety of names, such as qat and gat in Yemen, qaat and jaad in Somalia, and chat in Ethiopia. It is also known as jimma in the Oromo language. Khat has been grown for use as a stimulant for centuries in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. There, chewing khat predates the use of coffee and is used in a similar social context.

Its fresh leaves and tops are chewed or, less frequently, dried and consumed as tea, in order to achieve a state of euphoria and stimulation; it also has anorectic side-effects. The leaves or the soft part of the stem can be chewed with either chewing gum or fried peanuts to make it easier to chew.

Khat use has traditionally been confined to the regions where it is grown, because only the fresh leaves have the desired stimulating effects. In recent years, however, improved roads, off-road motor vehicles, and air transportation have increased the global distribution of this perishable commodity, and as a result, the plant has been reported in England, Wales, Rome, Amsterdam, Canada, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Traditionally khat is used as a socializing drug, and this is still very much the case in Yemen, where khat chewing is predominantly a male habit. Yemenis use traditional costumes and chew the stimulating plant in the afternoons. Chewing khat is also part of the Yemeni business culture to promote decision-making, but foreigners are not expected to participate. Some Yemeni women have their own saloons for the occasion, and participate in chewing khat with their husbands on weekends.

Khat is so popular in Yemen that its cultivation consumes much of the country's agricultural resources. It is estimated that 40% of the country's water supply goes towards irrigating it, with production increasing by about 10% to 15% every year. It is also estimated that one "daily bag" of khat requires about 500 liters of water to produce. Water consumption is so high that groundwater levels in the Sanaa basin are diminishing; because of this, government officials have proposed relocating large portions of the population of Sana'a to the coast of the Red Sea.

One reason for cultivating khat in Yemen so widely is the high income it provides for farmers. Some studies done in 2001 estimated that the income from cultivating khat was about 2.5 million Yemeni rials per hectare, while fruits brought only 0.57 million rials per hectare. It is estimated that between 1970 and 2000, the area on which khat was cultivated grew from 8,000 to 103,000 hectares.

In other countries, outside of its core area of growth and consumption, khat is sometimes chewed at parties or social functions. It may also be used by farmers and laborers for reducing physical fatigue or hunger, and by drivers and students for improving attention. Within the counter-culture segments of the elite population in Kenya, khat (referred to locally as veve or miraa) is used to counter the effects of a hangover or binge drinking, similar to the use of the coca leaf in South America.