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| City of Baghdad. Photo/FAO
| The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), which is responsible for the agricultural component of the Oil-for-Food Programme, is making all efforts to save the winter harvest, especially in Iraq's three northern governorates, which account for much of the country's cereal production. According to FAO, farmers in Iraq are in urgent need of spare parts and fuel for combine harvesters and tractors for the upcoming spring harvest, estimated at between 1.5 million and 1.7 million tonnes of grain.
At the beginning of April 2003, FAO launched an $86 million emergency campaign to help secure crop and livestock production and improve agricultural productivity. The appeal is envisioned to fund six other projects meant to: protect harvest; increase food production; prevent outbreaks of animal diseases; ensure water supplies in rural areas; and coordinate relief efforts. FAO also needs funds to improve, plan and coordinate food security activities in collaboration with other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations and to monitor their impact on the nutritional status of the population. Some $20 million of the appeal are for three emergency projects to secure the grain harvest and the spring and fall plantings.
As any disruption of water would damage crops and livestock production, the FAO appeal also includes provision for pipes, pumps, drills and technical expertise required to set up emergency water supplies and repair damaged irrigation networks, if needed. A $9.8-million project is designed to support the country's 4,000 poultry farms, another essential source of the animal proteins missing from the food basket.
While the situation in the centre and the south of Iraq is less clear, the harvest in the northern governorates (Erbil, Dohuk, Sulaimaniyah) is expected to produce between 30 and 35 per cent of this year's total estimated grain crop. Because most farmers were not displaced from their fields during the war, they are in a good position to begin harvesting.
A successful harvest would help alleviate food shortages by producing more than 500,000 tonnes of wheat and barley, enough to fill at least 20,000 truckloads that would otherwise have to be imported. It also would improve access to food and could help stimulate the rural economy. However, the bulk of Iraq's cereal requirement would continue to have been met through imports, including substantial amounts of food aid. Even in good harvest years, Iraq has always relied on substantial cereal imports as its productivity, particularly in major producing areas of central and southern Iraq, has suffered from limited investment, shortage of inputs and deteriorating irrigation infrastructure. |
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