Iraq's Ministry of Trade suggests purchasing 5 million tons of wheat

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's trade authorities have suggested buying five million tons of wheat to bolster the country's food security amid shortages in the commodity. 

Three out of the five million tons will be for fulfilling the country's necessities. The remaining two million will be for "strategic storage" for a six-month period, Iraq's Ministry of Trade spokesperson Mohammad Hanan told the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Wednesday. 

The proposal comes as a number of countries are facing rising food prices due to wheat shortages mainly caused by the Ukraine-Russia war. Russia and Ukraine are both major suppliers of wheat. Egypt, for example, imported nearly 80 percent of its wheat supply from those two countries. 

Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture previously announced that it expects to produce three million tons of wheat in 2022, a decrease of half a million tons compared to last year. 

The country's wheat reserves, stored in silos, can only last about three months, according to the ministry. 

Low precipitation and the loss of agricultural lands due to droughts causing desertification are a few of the challenges Iraq is currently facing. Seven million people are at risk of losing access to potable water in the coming years due to pollution and reduced supply, a water authority recently warned.