Last month, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) contributed more than $200 million to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) for Iraq. The cash contribution will result in approximately 324,000 metric tons of food, enough to feed 23 million Iraqis for one month. But the urgently needed food – 266,000 metric tons of US-donated wheat, rice, vegetable oil and other commodities — will only meet the immediate needs of the Iraqi people until additional US-donated food arrives and the United Nations Oil-for-Food deliveries resume.
On March 28, the UN passed a Security Council resolution allowing the resumption of the oil-for-food program under UN auspices. In response, President George W. Bush announced the release of 200,000 metric tons of wheat from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust with another 400,000 tons to be made available as needed.
These figures may sound impressive, but they are only a stopgap against a potential famine if this war-torn country is not immediately provided with a reliable supply of food. By way of illustration, USAID estimates that a minimum of 56,000 metric tons is required to feed 4.5 million Iraqis for a month.
Hoping to lend their support — and, of course, earn a reasonable profit — many American agricultural companies are eyeing export opportunities in Iraq, which — until sanctions were imposed in the wake of Gulf War I in 1991 — was historically a major market for US growers.
According to the US Bureau of the Census, in 1989, Iraq was a $726 million market for US agricultural products, with wheat and rice the leading commodities. For American rice, Iraq was the biggest market and the country was the seventh-largest market for US wheat. The UN-managed oil-for-food program was implemented in 1996 to allow Iraq to use proceeds from oil sales to buy food, medicine and equipment to keep the oil industry running. However, American growers found the UN bureaucracy too cumbersome and essentially gave up on the Iraqi export market. This allowed countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Australia to fill the void, particularly in shipments of rice. But with new authorities now governing Iraq and the potential lifting of US sanctions, American growers and exporters are hopeful that they will resume exports and reclaim Iraq as one of the United States top 10 markets.
UN economic sanctions are still blocking most trade, though President Bush last week declared that the sanctions should be lifted. Moreover, the cumbersome oil-for-food program — which serves to hinder free trade — is still in place. The UN estimates that prior to the outbreak of war, about 60 percent of the Iraqi population relied on the oil-for-food program for their entire food ration.
But delivering urgently needed food supplies and lifting sanctions are only near-term solutions for Iraq’s food requirements: Sooner — not later — the country must establish a legitimate government and a viable market-based economy.
Arab News Opinion 30 April 2003
