Iraq staring at major food shortage owing to lack of aid funding, warns UN

Iraq is looking at a major food shortage, with a steady decline in aid funding as Islamic State (ISIS) takes control of areas of the country, said the United Nation’s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq.

The country has been facing a major humanitarian crisis after the ISIS jihadist group invaded around a third of Iraq last year, leading to the displacement of millions of people.

Agence France-Presse quoted UN coordinator Lise Grande as saying: "[The] food pipeline, which is keeping more than two million people alive, breaks in October. We’ve got about eight weeks before it breaks.

"The food pipeline right now provides supplemental support to families that are food insecure. So what we would expect to see when that pipeline breaks is that food insecurity is going to increase, there’s no question about this, dramatically."

Recently, the UN launched an appeal for $0.5bn to continue its humanitarian efforts in the country.

Conflicts in Iraq are said to have displaced close to three million people since the start of 2014.

"Of the $500m that we asked for, more than $100m has been received to date.

"We’re confident that tens of millions more dollars will be coming, but by our own calculation, we’re still only halfway there."

Recently, the UN announced that it had to suspend 184 of 220 frontline healthcare programmes in the country due to lack of funds.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization quoted in its report last year: "Iraq faces serious food-security concerns because of labour shortages and disruptions in transportation and marketing, which are expected to significantly impact harvests, domestic production and supply."

The agency warned that lack of security is making food access more difficult for the poor and displaced.

"Food already costs 58% more in Anbar than in Baghdad," the report added.

A report in the Wall Street Journal highlighted the water issue, quoting: "Water problems also predate the past year’s fighting. The water situation became worse after ISIS’s blitz through northwestern Iraq last June.

"The militants reduced the flow of water through a dam near Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, on the Euphrates River. In April, the group opened a dam near the city of Fallujah, also in Anbar, to flood the surrounding desert in an effort to halt the advance of Iraqi security forces."