By Dr. Hussein Mishbak, for the Institute of Regional and International Studies (IRIS) at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). The opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
Assessing the impact of agricultural policy on food security in Iraq: the case of Dhi Qar
Current agricultural policies are largely out of line with the realities faced by farmers on the ground in three respects:
- First, policies do not account either for the costs of agriculture or price instability;
- Second, they do not integrate the impacts of water scarcity and climate change;
- Third, there is insufficient attention paid to the interrelatedness between distinct grain crops.
In other words, policies that benefit wheat may harm barley, and vice versa. Correcting these shortfalls will require inclusion of farmers and rural communities into the policymaking process to ensure greater alignment between policy and implementation.
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