The world food crisis is deepening

Ukraine is the largest food supplier of the World Food Program (WFP). WFP distributes food to 125 million people in over 80 countries worldwide. If the fields in Ukraine are not cultivated now, there will be no harvest and grain exports through Ukrainian ports will remain blocked due to the war, the situation for many countries and crisis areas will become very critical.

According to WFP Director David Beasley, Afghanistan, Egypt and Syria are particularly dependent on imports from Ukraine. Millions of people are at risk, he warns. Rising prices have also caused shortages in the Middle East and East Africa, Beasley said after talks with the European Union and France at the headquarters of the World Food Program in Rome.

“We are now talking about a conflict in the world’s bread basket, because Ukraine produces food for about 400 million people worldwide,” said the UN program director. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the prices of fuel, food and fertilizers have risen sharply. With the current escalation, we are experiencing the “perfect storm,” says David Beasley.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) expects wheat prices to rise by 85 percent worldwide due to a failed harvest in Ukraine. Beasley estimates the funding gap for his organization’s aid will be between $ 8 billion and $ 9 billion a year due to price increases. The UN agency suffers from a persistent lack of money because it does not have a fixed budget. It relies on government donations.

The EU will buy cereals worldwide

“How can we compensate for the reduced harvest from Ukraine?” How to replace food, grain that may no longer be produced in Ukraine? We have to act now, “said the WFP chief.

David Beasley

It is not the first time the European Union and France have heard urgent warnings from David Beasley and his associates. But the war in Ukraine makes the situation very dramatic. Therefore, the French government and the EU Commission want to unite all actors by the end of June and create what the EU bureaucratic jargon calls a “mobilization mechanism”. This is a kind of crisis team that will buy grain around the world and collect a lot of donations for the World Food Program.

“The commission will now address the issue together with EU member states. “First with emergency measures and then we want to get to the root of the problem and try to reach out to all parties, ie aid organizations, humanitarian workers, donors and affected countries,” promised the EU Commissioner for Assistance in Disaster cases, Janez Lenarcic at the meeting in Rome. However, it leaves open the possibility of operation.

Nor did French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who currently holds the EU presidency, give specific figures for the aid money. “It’s important to act now in order to avoid an emergency scenario in the future. “Through the mobilization mechanism, we must prevent an international crisis that would be devastating to the world.”

The food crisis is forcing people to flee

It is not just about grain exports, but also about fertilizers, for example. About 40 percent of the fertilizer used worldwide so far has come from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko said during a visit to Russia that the lack of fertilizer exports could quickly lead to a global hunger crisis. He blamed the sanctions imposed by Western states. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denied this. Not sanctions, but the Russian attack on Ukraine, which triggered sanctions and blockades of ports, is the cause of the crisis.

The World Trade Organization predicts that war and sanctions could halve the volume of world trade. Europe will be hit hard, but the effects will be dramatic for the Middle East and Africa, where there will be massive increases in food and oil prices, among others.

This predicted food crisis could lead to new refugee movements, warned the director of the World Food Program, David Beasley. “In southern Europe, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, 500 million people live in very precarious conditions. Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, to name a few, are in dire straits. They are experiencing a severe drought. “The last thing we need is for millions more to flee South Africa or the Middle East, in addition to the four million refugees in Ukraine.”

Even in Ukraine, food supply will deteriorate more and more. That is why the World Food Program is preparing to provide food for millions of people in Ukraine, a country with the most fertile land in the world. “How do we do that?” Should we take something from hungry children in Africa to give to hungry children in Ukraine? Or vice versa? ” asked David Beasley after talks with EU and French representatives in Rome./DW

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