Fri 10 June 2022:
Reduced wheat and other food commodity exports from Ukraine and Russia risk putting 11 million to 19 million more people at risk of chronic hunger in the coming year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The conflict in Ukraine has exacerbated a global food crisis, with prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer skyrocketing. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly one-third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a major exporter of fertilizer and Ukraine is a major supplier of corn and sunflower oil.
Boubaker BenBelhassen, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Markets and Trade Division, said the impact of the conflict “could lead to anywhere between 11 to 19 million more hungry people, that’s chronic hunger for 2022/23”.
This preliminary estimation was based on reduced exports of food commodities from Ukraine and Russia, he told reporters. The FAO also said in a report on Thursday that spiralling costs for farm inputs like fertiliser could deter growers from expanding production and worsen food security in poorer countries facing record import bills.
“The countries that are being affected most are in the Near East/North African region given their heavy reliance on imports, especially of wheat, from these countries, but also of vegetable oil, sunflower oil,” he said. Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia, were also being “highly impacted,” he added.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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