Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Another food insecurity crisis looms

What is clear and imminent is that the world food economy is on the verge of another major crisis, bringing reminiscence of, perhaps, the disruptive Iraq war and the global food crisis in 2007–08
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With no let-up in the Russia-Ukraine war, impacts of rising food prices and shortages of staple crops are being felt in most parts of the world. And the current fallout comes at a time when the global food security system has already been shattered by the lingering disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing devastations wreaked by climate change.


Farmers, food processors and supply chains all are already badly hit. Their incomes are expected to be further affected by the rising cost of inputs, reduced food supplies and disrupted markets. This is also likely to have distressing and long-term impacts on their nutrition and food security.


As leading producers of energy and agricultural products, Russia and Ukraine together make up nearly a third of global wheat exports and about 80 per cent of sunflower oil exports. Russia is also a major player in the global energy market, accounting for 18 per cent of coal exports, 11 per cent of oil and 10 per cent of gas.


Since the conflict began, their exports have essentially dried up and the impacts have been felt around the world, with food prices rising and stockpiles diminishing. These catastrophic developments come amid mounting concerns by the international community that the ongoing conflict will escalate global hunger and poverty.


According to Gabriel Ferrero de Loma-Osorio, head of the Committee on World Food Security, a UN body, an estimated 161 million more people are suffering from hunger than before the pandemic, totalling 821 million.


What is clear and imminent is that the world food economy is on the verge of another major crisis, bringing reminiscence of, perhaps, the disruptive Iraq war and the global food crisis in 2007–08.


At the height of the Iraq war, a UN agency reported that over 800,000 people were becoming hungry every night and more than half of the population at the risk of food scarcities.


In the face of the 2007-08 food crisis, wheat and rice prices nearly doubled, triggering a shortage that particularly affected developing nations. Although prices fell swiftly after peaking in 2008, they rose again. The current situation is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.


According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, global prices of wheat and barley, for example, rose 31 per cent over the course of 2021. Rapeseed oil and sunflower oil prices rose more than 60 per cent.


Countries reliant on wheat imports are likely to ramp up levels, adding further pressure on global supplies. Reports indicate that countries in the Middle East and other like Egypt, Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran and those beyond Asia and South Asia are already in talks with India for wheat imports.


The UN agency warns that there are close to 18 million people facing acute food insecurity and famine in Ethiopia, a crisis that has been primarily triggered by regional conflict. In this case, the stakes are even higher, potentially pushing millions into hunger far beyond the borders of Ukraine and Russia.


In war or any other calamities, the governments all over the world should ensure that no stone is unturned in their efforts to protect the production and marketing activities needed to meet domestic needs of food items.


They should also ensure movement of supply chains, which means protecting standing crops, livestock, food processing infrastructure, and all logistical systems. The governments must also expand social safety nets to protect vulnerable people, in addition to helping countries dependent on food imports from Russia and Ukraine to find alternative supplies to absorb the shock.


They should also rely on existing food stocks and diversify their domestic production to ensure people’s access to healthy diets.


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