Food Security in Iraq Part Two ….!

‏As we mentioned in the introduction on the subject of food security, which is one of the most important vital and national issues for any‏Country that seeks to have full sovereignty and that it directly affects the citizens, and these effects are reflected negatively and positively

‏By changing the food security index, so we need here to go back a little and start defining the concept of food security: The term food

‏Security refers to the availability of food for people without any shortage, then we can say that food security has actually been achieved

‏When we reach a stage in which the individual is not afraid of hunger or that he is not exposed to it, and is used as a criterion to prevent

‏The occurrence of food shortages in the future or its interruption due to several factors considered Dangerous, including political conflicts

‏And wars, climate change and other problems that hinder the availability of this matter.

‏In fact of the matter, it is possible to divide the concept of food security into two main levels or two phases, if you will, namely the absolute

‏And the relative, so the absolute is defined as the fact that a single country produces food within it at a level equal to or higher than the local

‏Demand and its rates, and it can often be considered that it achieves the concept of complete self-sufficiency. As for relative food security,

‏It refers to the extent of the state’s ability to produce and find what the people or individuals need in terms of goods and food, in part, in

‏The pursuit and development in order to reach perfection.

‏As for the focus of our discussion here, “Iraq” and the level of food security in the country, unfortunately and for a long time, food security,

‏Which is the cornerstone of Iraqi national security and the actual heart of the country’s true sovereignty, did not receive special care,

‏Or attention in proportion to the size of the issue by the successive Iraqi governments over the course of Long periods. It continued to depend

‏In most of its food sources on imports from abroad, and the food security system was not activated as necessary, perhaps due to the many conflicts

‏And wars raging in the country over the past four decades overtly and for two decades before it in a foggy and unclear manner,

‏And let us not forget that one of the most important causes of conflict is the loss and deterioration of food security. Therefore, the relationship

‏Between food security and community security “a conflict free society” is a reciprocal relationship, one of which affects the other adversely.

‏Of course, the food security system in Iraq has been greatly affected and started to deteriorate since 1991, as the multilateral economic blockade

‏On Iraq by a UN decision caused great damage in the period between 1990 and 2003. The food security situation has deteriorated. After 1996,

‏The oil-for-food program led to the easing of the embargo somewhat by allowing the use of oil exports under United Nations control in importing food,

‏But the food security situation remained worse than it was before 1990, because the idea of exchanging oil for food in itself constitutes

‏The opposite of the concept of food security.

‏Of course, the situation continued until the year 2003 and the end of the UN blockade imposed on the country, but !!

‏It was assumed and very obvious, according to what was circulated about Iraq after the overthrow of the regime,

‏And how the situation in the country would change from one state to another, better, that the governments that came

‏To rescue the Iraqis and pull them out of what they were in were supposed to work seriously to secure the livelihood

‏Of this citizen in a rich country like Iraq ,

‏And securing the Iraqi citizen from even thinking about the issue of food, and that a day may come when he will not

‏Be able to provide food for his children, and what happened was the exact opposite. Food security has deteriorated

‏Due to the politicians being busy with sharing wealth and political gains, the agricultural system began to decline

‏And is still collapsing until this moment, the collapse of the industrial system and other reasons, which in its entirety

‏Produced a country that today suffers from a real problem, which is the problem of complete food insecurity if the situation continues as it is.

‏One of the real examples that warns of food insecurity in the country is the population increase from 23.5 million people in the year 2000 to about

‏39 million people in 2019, which means an increase of 66 percent within 20 years, and the problem here is not the population increase in itself,

‏But the remaining of the food supplies the same. Without being able to keep pace with this increase, and here the danger of not paying attention to

‏The food security file, and also examples that can be put forward in this regard, “Iraq imports more than 60% of its food needs. Therefore, in the

‏Event of shocks in the global food supply chains or the collapse of the state budget and the creation of Almost total dependence in the food system

‏On the state, the country would literally suffer from hunger if that happened.

‏In conclusion, food security in Iraq is based on three main axes:

‏The nutritional gap.

‏-Ration card.

‏-Self-sufficiency.

‏We pause here so as not to linger on the dear reader, and in the third part we will complete a simplified and detailed explanation of the three axes.

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