Taiz is a governorate of Yemen. The governorate's capital Taiz, the third-largest city in Yemen, is among the most important commercial centres in the country, owing to its proximity to rich farmland and the important Red Sea port of Mocha. It also has an international airport, Taiz International Airport, with numerous services within Yemen and to neighbouring countries.

Geography

For such a small area, Taiz Governorate has an extraordinarily diverse geography. The western half of the governorate is part of the Tihamah coastal plain and has an exceedingly hot, humid and arid climate. The eastern half, however, is very mountainous, with the major peak being 3,070-metre-high Jabal Sabir, near Taiz city. These mountains trap the moisture created by an upper-level wind reversal between April and October, so that in the eastern half of the governorate annual rainfall increases from 200 millimetres (8 inches) in the foothills to probably more than 1,000 millimetres (40 inches) near Jebel Saber. Temperatures in the highlands remain high during the daytime, but at the highest elevations they can fall dramatically to -5 °C (23 °F) overnight.

Mountain ranges

The governorate has many mountains. Their height ranges between 1,000 and 3,200 metres. The most important mountains are Jabal Sabir, Jabal Habashi, Jabal Samaʿa, Jabal Qadas, Jabal As-Silw, the mountains of al-Wazi'iyah and the Mountains of Shar'ab and Maqbanah.

Streams

There are many streams in Taiz governorate; known as wadi, they are divided into perennial and temporary streams:

Perennial streams

Temporary streams

Are the steams that only run in wet seasons:

Adjacent governorates

Districts

Taiz Governorate is divided into the following 23 districts. These districts are further divided into sub-districts, and then further subdivided into villages:

Economy

The agriculture of this governorate is diverse. In the Tihamah region, there is only irrigated agriculture, with cotton, sorghum and sesame the chief crops. Inland, whilst these crops are still significant, a much wider range of crops can be grown on rainfall and through water storage. Mangoes, papayas and bananas are the major crops of the western escarpment, and further up coffee and khat are grown. Although wine is prohibited in Yemen because of its alcohol content, grapes are still grown to produce raisins in some areas.

Wildlife

The governorate has many wild animals and birds. The most common wild animals in the governorate are hyaenas, rock hyrax, rabbits, hedgehog, monkeys. The most common wild birds are vultures, falcons, partridges, owls, pigeons, hoopoes, bulbuls.

Regions

Islands

Notable people

Mohsen Ayed, journalist and author