The hills and highlands of northwestern Yemen are the most productive farming area. They also raise a variety of fruits, including apricots, bananas, citrus fruits, grapes, papayas, and pomegranates. They grow beans, lentils, onions, and tomatoes in gardens. People on the Tihamah raise durra and some dates and cotton. Agriculture in southern Yemen is limited to the few areas with underground water for irrigation.
Farmers grow three or four crops a year of barley, millet, sesame, sorghum, and wheat.
Since the early 1980's, the Yemenis have worked to turn desert areas into farmland by means of dams, irrigation, and other water and agricultural development projects. Khat is the leading cash crop of Yemen. It comes from the leaves of a woody shrub that grows in the highlands. Coffee is another important cash crop. Coffee plants grow on terraces cut into the hills.