Project Masam’s Team 17 has announced it has cleared and secured the Wadi Al-Awda farm in Mokha district of Yemen’s Taiz governorate.
Taiz governorate is one of Yemen’s most landmine-contaminated regions after Houthi militias extensively and indiscriminately planted mines.
In a statement, the leader of Team 17 said that his team had received a report from a farmer called Saeed Al-Otari, in Wadi Al-Awda, who confirmed the presence of landmines on his farm.
The farmer found the mines during the plowing process of his land. He immediately stopped working and contacted Project Masam to report the landmines and ask for help.
Team 17 was dispatched to the farm and immediately started the survey and clearance process.
The leader of Team 17 added that, during the survey and clearance operation, the team discovered six anti-tank mines on the outskirts of the farm, including the mine which the plowing machine had extracted.
The team leader sent a message to all farmers in nearby areas not to take risks by entering suspicious farms, especially at the time of rainy and agricultural season.
Migration of mines is a real danger and threat in Project Masam’s theater of operations, with the migration of mines occurring when heavy rain causes flooding in areas where mines are laid, subsequently causing the mines to be washed down stream and “migrate” from their original location to another.
Al-Otari told Project Masam that the farmers in Mokha district depend entirely on their farms, and seek to take advantage of the rainy and agricultural season that they would have waited for throughout the year.
The farmer said that they hope that Project Masam’s deminibg teams will intensify their efforts to clear and secure their farms from Houthi landmines, so that their arable lands can be reclaimed, and cultivated.
