Millions to remain in need of food aid despite better harvest

Millions of Iraqis will remain dependant on food aid for some time, despite a better harvest and the lifting of sanctions, a report released by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said. "While starvation has been averted, chronic malnutrition persists among several million vulnerable people, including some 100,000 refugees and around 200,000 displaced people," information officer for the FAO, Erwin Northoff, told IRIN from Rome on Wednesday. Both agencies stated that there would be a need to continue food assistance for the short to medium term, as the agricultural sector needed "considerable time for rehabilitation". Nearly half of the Iraqi population of 26.3 million were estimated to be poor and in need of assistance, with 60 percent unemployed and directly dependant on food rations financed by the Oil-for- Food Programme. "Any significant disruption of the public distribution system would have a severe negative impact on food access," the report warned. "The situation of mothers and children in central and southern Iraq is of particular concern," Northoff maintained, noting, however, that acute malnutrition had nearly been eliminated in the northern governorates. However, there was some hope in reviving the sector with 4.12 million mt of cereal crop production expected for this year, 22 percent higher than was originally estimated. "Production increased mainly due to favourable rains in the north, increased irrigation and timely distribution of agricultural inputs in the main producing areas," he explained. Meanwhile, the farming community in Iraq continues to face an uphill struggle as the joint report stressed that the capacity to produce fertiliser nationally had been drastically reduced with two factories not able to produce, when some 600,000 mt of fertilisers would be needed for next year's cereal crops. With cereal imports for 2003/2004 estimated at 3.44 million mt, both agencies urged that any additional food aid required should be procured locally to support the farming industry. Livestock, however, remained stable, as it had benefited from good pastures in the north along with the availability of grain. According to WFP, estimates of those needing supplementary food for 2004 - malnourished children, family members and pregnant women - stands at 3.5 million people, at a cost of US $51 million.