According to the Government of Iraq (GoI) Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA), 3 percent of the population are food insecure and an additional 22 percent are vulnerable to food insecurity without the Public Distribution System (PDS) and increasing continuously. The PDS provides each Iraqi citizen with a monthly food basket with a nutritional value of 2,200 k/cal per day, but suffers from general ineffectiveness and inefficiency, which means the population rarely receives the correct quantity at the right time.
The combination of immediate improvement in access to food, through short-term (CFW) assistance, and longer-term improvement in food availability and access through rehabilitation of livelihood assets and agricultural training and capacity building will result in sustainable improvements in the efficiency of food production and will reflect positively on the food security.
Agricultural Inputs and Training: This component aims to improve food security and nutrition of the vulnerable rural populations in Iraq by increasing domestic production of agriculture products that will be brought about by provision of necessary inputs, capacity building and technical support. The FAO Mid-term Strategy for Iraq (2009-2014) and the CPF 2014-2017 have sought to curb the chronically high level of food security and malnutrition among the Iraqi population and combined with the severe impact of the ongoing drought in Iraq, the situation has further aggravated the situation of food availability and nutrition in Iraq. There is need for implementation of quick impact programmes.
Hilal Abdulqader