INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Shafaq News/ Iraq ranked high in an annual global hunger index, a tool calculated by the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI) to assess progress in combating hunger efforts worldwide
Eighteen countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Cuba, Kuwait, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Chile, China, Belarus, Bosnia,
and Brasil, had low hunger levels
Iraq, ranked 84 worldwide, had a score of 22.8, which corresponds to alarming hunger levels
Somalia and Yemen dwindled at the bottom of the score with 115 and 116, respectively
"As a rule of thumb, any state that cannot meet the qualifications of food security is at risk of hunger
Iraq is not self-sufficient industrially and agriculturally
It has a rentier economy that relies mainly upon oil to fund its treasury," he said
"Poverty and unemployment rates are high in Iraq, rendering it susceptible to inflationary quakes and the oil market's volatility
Therefore, it is categorized among the countries at risk of hunger due to increasing desertification, drought, and climate change," he
