1. Food Security In IRAQ
Samir Albadri
Ph.D student
Southern Illinois University
Agricultural Systems
samiralbadri@siu.edu
2. Food Security
• Food Security: Exists when all people, at all times, have physical,
social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food
which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life (World Food Summit, 1996).
3. Information about Iraq
Capital
and largest city
Area Population Rivers Languages
Baghdad Total 437,072 km2 2014 estimate
36,004,552
2 Arabic
169,234 sq mi Density 82.7/km2 Tigris
Water (%) 1.1 183.9/sq mi Euphrates
4. Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 21.6% Agriculture - products Dates, barley, rice,
vegetables, wheat, cotton;
cattle, sheep, poultry
Industry 18.7% Industries petroleum, chemicals,
textiles, leather, construction
materials, food processing,
fertilizer, metal
fabrication/processing
services 59.8% Different /
5. 1990 Iraq established the Public Distribution System
(PDS) Oil-for-Food Programmer
Material Amount
wheat (9 kilos)
rice (3 kilos)
sugar (2 kilos)
tea (200 grams)
vegetable oil (1.25 kilo)
detergent (500 grams)
pulses (250 grams)
adult milk (250 grams)
soap (250 grams)
infant formula (1.8 kilo)
-Which ensured that every citizen received a monthly ration of
6. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
2003
Has praised the Oil-for-Food programmer which closed on 21
November was the only humanitarian programmer ever to have been
funded entirely from resources belonging to the nation it was designed
to help.
7. The cost
Each Iraqi is entitled to a monthly food basket for a nominal fee of 250
Iraqi dinars ($0.216).
The food basket is distributed, and fees collected, through
approximately 45,000 “food and flour agents
8. This ration should supply 2,200 kcal per person per day.
However, shortfalls in distributions have affected the country.
Data from WFP field monitors indicate that the PDS supplied an
average of 60 percent of the caloric requirements during 2006. This
dropped to 51 percent during 2007.
9. FAO
FAO cites Iraq as one of 37 countries in
crisis requiring external assistance
13. 2003
-In the push to ensure greater food security in Iraq,
WFP and COSIT launched the country’s first household survey in 2003
to assess both food security and vulnerability.
- That Baseline Food Security Assessment found that, despite the PDS,
food insecurity persisted in Iraq for a significant segment of the
population who faced serious difficulties accessing food.
- Chronic poverty, a lack of job opportunities and inadequate
purchasing power were all contributing to Iraq’s overall food insecurity.
14. We need to answer these 5 Q
1- Who are the food insecure?
2- Why are they food insecure?
3- How many are food insecure?
4- Where do the food insecure live?
5- How can we alleviate their suffering from poverty and hunger?
15. 1- Who are the food insecure?
-Food insecure in Iraq can be found in those families with low incomes
living in rural areas (69 percent of the food insecure in Iraq)
- who have poor or borderline dietary diversity.
- The heads of such food insecure households in Iraq are either
unemployed marginal
farmers
unskilled
laborers
agricultural
wage earners
Women low
percentage
Old age
26 percent 25 percent 15 percent 5 percent 14 percent 15 percent
16. The chronic malnutrition rate of children in food insecure households
was estimated as 33 percent
-Chronic malnutrition affects the youngest children aged 12 months
to 23 months most severely.
Acute malnutrition in Iraq is also alarming with 9 percent of Iraqi
children being acutely malnourished.
-The highest rate (13 percent) of wasting was found in
children aged 6 to <12 months old followed by 12 percent for those
aged 12 months to 23 months.
17. 2- Why are they food insecure?
1- Iraq isn't stabilized politically and economically
2- Wealth status
- Income and expenditure
3- Education level of the head of households
4- Geographic location (urban vs. rural)
5- Sex of household head (female headed more vulnerable).
18. 3- How many are food insecure?
-That approximately 11 percent (2.6 million people) of the Iraqi
population were extremely poor and vulnerable to food insecurity and,
were the PDS to be discontinued, an additional 3.6 million people
would face a high probability of being food insecure.
- Despite the fact that the PDS continues to exist, it is increasingly
unable to provide adequate food for Iraq’s poorest households
19. 4- Where do the food insecure live?
There is a prevalence of extreme poverty (particularly among women
and children in rural areas) and despite the availability of food on the
market, the poorest people could not afford to buy it
25. 5- How can we alleviate their suffering from
poverty and hunger?
1- Targeted food assistance to the most vulnerable and food insecure
groups;
2- Food for training to teach poor mothers childcare and nutrition best
practices
3- Food for education among the poorest areas to ensure children
receive their nutritional requirements and continue attending school,
with particular emphasis placed on female attendance
4- Scaling up micronutrient programmes including iodine in salt and
vitamin A and iron fortification
