American spy network activities cause huge losses to agricultural sector in Yemen

SANAA, July 09 (YPA) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in Sanaa revealed during a press conference held on Tuesday the huge losses incurred by the agricultural sector in Yemen as a result of the subversive activities of the American spy network and the systematic targeting of the sector over the past years.

The Ministry explained in a statement read by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Agricultural and Fisheries Committee, Radwan Al-Rubai, that the targeting of the agricultural sector through the American-Israeli spy network affected all agricultural policies, strategies, programs, and projects that were implemented during the past decades.

Dr. Al-Rubai pointed out that this targeting caused a decrease in production, an increase in costs, losses, and waste, and a decrease in the economic return for the local product, in addition to creating an imbalance in the trade balance between imports, exports, and capital flows.

The activities of the espionage network led to the absence of a fair distribution of wealth, and this resulted in the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few influential people in the regime and their relatives, whom the enemy worked to enable to own the largest import and distribution companies, create wealth, and buy loyalties.

Dr. Al-Rubai confirmed during the conference that the American enemy worked to target the local product in all episodes and stages of production and marketing, as the enemy’s destructive methods appear in the absence of programs to build and protect the national economy.

He stated that the American targeting of the agricultural sector in Yemen led to a decline in the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product, a decline in its economic growth rates, and a decline in the proportion of the workforce in the sector.

Dr. Al-Rubai touched on the effects of the systematic targeting of the agricultural sector, including that the economic reform program that was implemented during the period (1994–1999) led to a decline in the percentage of the agricultural sector’s contribution to the domestic product to 18 percent, after it had contributed 22.5 percent during (1990–1994). The agricultural sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product declined after four years of implementing the program (2000–2004) to 13.8 percent.

The statement stated that the economic growth rates of the agricultural sector decreased, which led to an increase in production costs, a decrease in productivity, cultivated areas, etc., while the proportion of the workforce in the sector declined during the period of implementation of the program from 59 percent in the period (1990–1994) to 46 percent in the period. (1995–2004), and the relative importance of the area of crops planted with grains declined from 70 percent during the period (1984–1994) ) to 57 percent during (1995–2005).

According to the statement, the area cultivated with grains decreased after the implementation of the program from 806,836 hectares on average during the period (1984–1994) to 666,477 hectares during the period (1995–2005),  production quantities declined by 17.4 percent, and the growth rates of grain crops declined from 11.8 percent to “-3.1” percent.

The Ministry of Agriculture held the US administration and its intelligence fully responsible for the suffering and losses suffered by Yemeni farmers throughout the previous periods, pointing out that the agricultural leadership is studying the possibility of filing a lawsuit in international courts to oblige the Americans to pay compensation to Yemeni farmers as a result of the targeting they were subjected to.

The Ministry stressed that it would not allow the infiltration to continue and would work to purge the agricultural sector of agents and spies. It called on the media, activists, and the Yemeni people to stand by the leadership and concerned authorities in thwarting the enemies’ plans.

At the end of the press conference, the Ministry of Agriculture expressed its thanks to the security agencies and the Security and Intelligence Service for their great efforts and the great security achievement they achieved in uncovering the American-Israeli spy network and exposing American plans.

YPA