FOOD CRISIS WORSENED BY EXPORT RESTRICTIONS, UN WARNS

Sat 14 May 2022:

Poorer countries have been dealing with rising food prices for the previous two years, but the issue has worsened due to shortages caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two key producers and exporters of wheat and other foodstuffs, according to the Anadolu news agency.

In this scenario, governments should “refrain from imposing export restrictions, which can exacerbate food price increases and undermine trust in global markets,” the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Qu Dongyu, said.

Qu said greater transparency in global food markets via the expansion of a food prices platform hosted by the FAO, and cheap loans to poorer countries to help them meet their soaring food bills, could alleviate the crisis.

He made the remarks while addressing a meeting of G7 countries’ agriculture ministers in Stuttgart, Germany, the FAO said in a statement.

The G7 brings together the US, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the EU.

The US-based International Food Policy Research Institute lists Argentina, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Kazakhstan among the “notable” countries that have responded to the war in Ukraine with export restrictions on foodstuffs.

At a parallel G7 meeting of foreign ministers, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused Russia of blocking grain deliveries from Ukrainian ports, calling the action a “hybrid war.”

Egypt, Turkey, Congo, Eritrea, Madagascar, Namibia, Somalia, and Tanzania, according to the FAO, are among the nations that rely on wheat imports the most, while Argentina, Bangladesh, and Brazil rely significantly on fertilizers imported from Russia.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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