A Protected Home Surpasses Years of Disappointment

Every sunrise brings with it the promise of a new beginning — a fresh page for people to write their lives anew. But for farmers in Hadramout Governorate, mornings had long carried a different weight.

In Hadramout's Wadi areas, farmers endured a cascade of compounding crises: soaring fuel prices, damaged irrigation systems, expensive agricultural inputs, and dwindling crop yields. Together, these hardships pushed agricultural activity to the brink of collapse, leaving many farmers questioning whether their land could still sustain them.

Salim, 53, knows this struggle intimately. With 23 years in agriculture, he had weathered season after season of mounting costs — irrigation bills, pesticides, pest damage — with little to show for it. "In the past, our production did not even cover a small part of our operating expenses," he recalled, the disappointment still present in his voice. At his lowest points, it felt as though his efforts and resources were simply disappearing into the earth.

That began to change through the Sustainable Agriculture and Agricultural & Fisheries Empowerment project, funded by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief). Salim received a fully equipped protected house along with agricultural guidance on sustainable farming practices — tools that allowed him to conserve water, reduce costs, and invest his time and effort more efficiently.

Today, Salim walks the grounds of his farm in the Wadi Al-Ain and Houra District with a visible lightness. Three times a week, he harvests around 150 kilograms of cucumber from his protected house — yields he once could only imagine. His income has stabilized, his family's needs are met, and years of disappointment have given way to quiet pride. "Praise be to God," he said. "Those hard years are behind me."

Salim is one of ten farmers across Hadramout and Ma'rib governorates who have benefited from KSrelief-supported protected houses, each finding in them a path toward greater productivity and improved livelihoods.