Key Messages
Wheat and barley harvesting is underway in the south, with the Iraqi government announcing that wheat prices at government silos will be similar to previous years.
Markets and food prices are generally stable.
Approximately 2.5 million people self-registered for the government’s Minha programme, which will provide 30,000 IQD to individuals impacted by COVID-19.
Emergency food distributions are ongoing, with plans to increase targets based on needs and resources.
Overview
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to affect the world, with many countries enforcing social distancing and lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus.
Globally, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases crossed 2.25 million; however, during week 16 (12-18 April 2020) the cumulative number of cases decreased by 2% compared to the previous week. Since February, both federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region (KR-I) have enforced movement restrictions and curfews to curtail transmission of the disease.
Iraq’s measures appear to be effective; the week-to-week cumulative number of cases decreased 63% in week 16, with only 164 confirmed cases reported compared to 440 cases in week 15 (Figure 1). As of this report, the measures will remain in place until the beginning of Ramadan (April 23/24) in both federal Iraq and KR-I. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Bank continue to track the impact of this crisis on food security, agriculture production and the overall food system.
Food Supply: Production (primarily on farm)
Farmers continue to be able to access their fields and herds despite the continued curfews in both federal Iraq and KR-I. In southern Iraq, the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has informed FAO that they have begun harvesting more than 3.25 million hectares of wheat and barley. The Government of Iraq (GoI) announced that they will buy wheat grain from farmers at the same prices as previous years; depending on the quality, prices range from around 420,000 to 520,000 IQD per tonne. Rafidain Bank, a government-owned bank, also announced that branches will be open and able to cash-out farmers for deliveries. These disbursements will follow the standard procedure; upon delivery to the government silos, the Ministry of Trade will issue a letter to the bank about the quantity and price due to the farmer, which the farmer will present to the bank to collect the cash.1 These announcements may assuage farmers’ fears about the governments’ ability to purchase their crops due to the dropping oil prices.