Economy of Socotra

close to the third largest town in the archipelago, Qād̨ub. Diesel generators make electricity widely available in Socotra. A paved road runs along the north shore from Qulansiyah to Hadibu and then to the DiHamri area; and another paved road, from the northern coast to the southern through the Dixsam Plateau.

The former capital is located to the east of Hadibu. A small Yemeni Army barracks lies at the western end of Hadibu, and the former President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has a residence there.

Some residents raise cattle and goats. The chief export products of the island are dates, ghee, tobacco, and fish.

At the end of the 1990s, a United Nations Development Program was launched with the aim of providing a close survey of the island of Socotra. The project called Socotra Governance and Biodiversity Project have listed following goals from 2009:

Local governance support

Development and implementation of mainstreaming tools

Strengthening nongovernmental organizations' advocacy

Direction of biodiversity conservation benefits to the local people

Support to the fisheries sector and training of professionals

In February 2014, the Economist magazine reported that Socotra was being considered as a possible site for the Yemeni jihadist rehabilitation program