Iraq Agriculture and Food Supply: Background and Issues (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
June 7, 2004 |
| Report Number |
RL32093 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Randy Schnepf, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Iraq's agricultural sector represents a small but vital component of Iraq's economy. Over the past
several decades agriculture's role in the economy has been heavily influenced by Iraq's involvement
in military conflicts, particularly the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 Iraq
War, and by varying degrees of government effort to promote and/or control agricultural production.
Rapid population growth coupled with limited arable land and a general stagnation in
agricultural productivity has steadily increased dependence on imports to meet domestic food needs
since the mid-1960s. Prior to the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was a major trading partner with the U.S. Iraq
benefitted from substantial USDA agricultural export credit during the 1980s to purchase large
quantities of U.S. agricultural commodities. By the mid-1980s Iraq was the major destination for
U.S. rice exports. Iraq was also an important purchaser of U.S. wheat, corn, soymeal, and cotton.
After the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. agricultural export credit to Iraq was ended and USDA was left with
$2 billion in unpaid credit. U.S. agricultural trade with Iraq remained negligible through 2002.
Present-day Iraqi agriculture and trade have been heavily shaped by the 1990 U.N. sanctions
and the Iraqi government's response to them. From 1991 to 1996, prior to the startup of the U.N.'s
Oil-For-Food program (OFFP), Iraq's agricultural imports averaged $958 million or less than half
of the pre-war level. Under the OFFP, the value of Iraq's agricultural imports rebounded to average
$1.5 billion (during the 1997-2002 period).
In early 2003, just prior to the U.S. -- Iraq War, the country's agricultural sector remained beset
by the legacy of past mis-management, unresolved disputes over land and water rights, and the
lingering effects of a severe drought during 1999-2001. Clearly, Iraq will be dependent on imports
for fully meeting domestic food demand for several years to come. In the near term, food aid
shipments are likely to play a major role in determining the share of Iraq's agricultural imports, and
may influence the evolution of future commercial imports.
This report is an extension of CRS Report RS21516 , "Iraq's Agriculture: Background and
Status." It provides a brief description of Iraq's agro-climatic setting and the history of agricultural
policy, production, and trade leading up to the period just prior to the 2003 Gulf War; it reviews
issues likely to affect the long-term outlook for Iraq's agricultural production and trade; and it
provides several tables of historical data relevant to understanding the evolution of Iraq's agricultural
production and trade. This report will be updated as events warrant. For detailed discussion on the
status of humanitarian aid efforts, see CRS Report RL31833 , Iraq: Recent Developments in
Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance . For discussion on the U.N. Oil-For-Food
Program
and trade during the decade of the 1990s see CRS Report RL30472 , Iraq: Oil-For-Food
Program,
International Sanctions, and Illicit Trade .
