The blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia and the ripple effects of Western sanctions on Moscow have led to rising global food prices and raised concerns about rising hunger around the world.
According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, Ukraine and Russia produce about a third of the wheat traded on world markets and about a quarter of the world’s barley.
Exports from Russia and Ukraine include sunflower oil and corn for animal feed, which account for about 12 percent of the world’s total calories traded.
In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky warned of the impact of the war on Ukraine’s wheat crop, saying that last year’s crop was still stuck in the Black Sea ports and beyond. “There is no place to store incoming products.”
According to the United Nations, the war in Ukraine could increase the number of people at risk of acute food insecurity to 47 million this year.
According to the Washington Post, with these warnings, five countries are already feeling the effects of the grain crisis, which has caused “severe damage” to those countries.
-Nigeria
It is the most populous country in Africa and relies heavily on imported grains. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, wheat makes up a large part of the population’s diet, but produces only 1% of the wheat consumed locally annually. Be.
According to government statistics released in 2018, about 43% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, and malnutrition and food insecurity have halted the growth of more than a third of children under the age of five.
The war in Ukraine has exacerbated other factors that have boosted hunger in Nigeria, including an “armed insurgency” in the northeast and the expectation of less rain in the center and troops.
Nigeria is among the countries with the highest level of alert in the latest UN report on “hunger points”.
This year, the number of people classified as “emergency” in the international food insecurity classification system is expected to reach nearly 1.2 million Nigerians between June and August.
Ethiopia and Somalia
They are located in the Horn of Africa and suffer the consequences of climate change, rising food prices, as well as internal conflicts.
In addition to Kenya, the two countries are experiencing “the worst drought in four decades” and the World Food Program has warned that 20 million people in the region could suffer from drought by the end of the year.
Commenting on the “extremely harsh weather conditions”, Horn of Africa needed to import more food than usual this year, said David Labord, a senior fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington Post “.
Somalia depends on Russia and Ukraine for more than 90 percent of its wheat imports, and internal conflicts complicate access to food for those in need.
In Ethiopia, the government of Prime Minister Abi Ahmed has been fighting insurgents in the Tigris region since 2020.
According to the United Nations, more than 9 million people were in need of food aid due to the war, and hundreds of thousands were on the brink of starvation at some point.
The war in Ukraine helped push up food prices in Ethiopia, and “aid agencies” reported “widespread shortages” of bread and oil.
Somalia and Ethiopia fall into the “United Nations Highlands”, where “certain populations are identified or expected to experience starvation or death.”
More than 80,000 people in Somalia may face the situation this year, according to UN forecasts.
According to the New York Times, in both countries, children are currently dying from malnutrition and nearly 2 million children in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are in urgent need of treatment.
-Egypt
Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat, and Cairo imported more than 80 percent of its wheat imports from Moscow and Kyiv before the war.
Bread is the backbone of the Egyptian diet, and the government subsidizes more than 70 million of Egypt’s population of approximately 102 million.
But Labourd believes that “famine in Egypt is not a concern” and instead worries about government spending to “maintain social safety net programs and prevent some form of political instability.”
Rising food prices were among the economic problems that contributed to the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions.
“Conflict leads to hunger, and hunger leads to conflict,” said Carin Fleischer, regional director of the World Food Program, according to the Washington Post.
To deal with the aftermath of the war, the Egyptian government sought new suppliers of wheat and ordered Egyptian farmers to harvest wheat earlier than scheduled, according to a previous Wall Street Journal report.
The Egyptian government is seeking funding from Saudi Arabia and the International Monetary Fund to help finance the bread subsidy.
-to whom
The World Food Program has already provided food to 13 million people in Yemen, where a protracted civil war has “pushed up food and fuel prices and created a widespread hunger crisis.”
In the past, the program was forced to cut food rations for 8 million people in Yemen before Russia invaded Ukraine, and Fleischer worries that “the agency now has to cut more rations” as a result of the war. .
Source: Lebanon Debate
