The war in Ukraine will have an impact on the world food supply. Experts warn of a global crisis and growing hunger.
Frankfurt – The Russian invasion is bringing unimaginable suffering to the people of Ukraine, but the Ukraine war could also have devastating consequences worldwide. Humanitarian organizations warn of the impact on the food supply of the civilian population in the affected areas and of a worsening of the global hunger crisis.
The poorest of the poor in particular will feel the effects of the Ukraine conflict, warns the director of the UN’s World Food Program, David Beasley. Because the area around the Black Sea is one of the most important areas in the world for grain and agricultural production. “Currently, 283 million people are at risk of starvation and 45 million are on the verge of starvation. The world cannot afford another conflict to further increase the number of hungry people,” Beasley said.
Millions of people threatened by hunger: Ukraine war exacerbates situation
“Even before this crisis, 1.5 million people in eastern Ukraine were dependent on food aid and livelihood assistance last year – a 51 percent increase compared to 2020,” writes the aid organization Action against Hunger. But other countries are also dependent on exports from Ukraine. Trade restrictions as a result of the war primarily affected countries in the Middle East and Africa, some of which imported 70 percent of their wheat, says Rafaël Schneider from Welthungerhilfe to the editorial network Germany (RND).
Grain prices on the world market had already risen sharply in autumn 2021 after the corona lockdowns, explains Udo Hemmerling, Vice Secretary General of the German Farmers’ Association, to the RND. This is now continuing. Ship loading in the Black Sea ports was interrupted by the war. The consumer countries in the Arab world, Turkey, North Africa and Asia are particularly affected. “In the Ukraine, a regular spring ordering of the fields no longer seems possible because of the war,” says Hemmerling. “Farmers go into military service; diesel and tractors are also delivered there.”
War in Ukraine has global repercussions: Wheat and corn prices are rising
Poor people in western countries could also feel the effects of rising food prices, Schneider warns. Germany is not solely dependent on Russia and Ukraine for grain supplies, but experts in Germany are also expecting an increase in food prices as a result of the Ukraine conflict. According to Schneider, countries like Germany are called upon to expand their support for fighting hunger and rural development.
The higher prices for wheat and corn are affecting societies in the Global South that have already been badly affected by the Corona crisis, said Marita Wiggerthale, agricultural expert at the aid organization Oxfam to the RND. The people there had no more reserves. Rising food prices would lead to more hunger in many regions. (sne)
