Food Insecurity In The Middle East And North Africa : The Ripple Effects Of Russia's War In Ukraine
تاريخ النشر: 01/01/2022
الناشر: مركز تريندز للبحوث والاستشارات
نبذة الناشر:At a time when the global economy continues to grapple following two and half years of financial stagnation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war will only continue to undermine economic recovery around the world. With oil prices and global food inflation on the rise, the prospect of ...further economic instability and increasing global hunger may run the risk of provoking political and civil unrest.
Additionally, Russia’s war in Ukraine has cast a spotlight on the global dependency of food imports – particularly wheat - from the two Eastern European nations. Prior to the war Russia and Ukraine accounted for one third of the wheat imports around the globe. Yet as the conflict continues to intensify, Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea has further deepened global food supply disruptions as the passageway accounted for nearly 98% of Ukraine’s wheat exports prior to Russia’s invasion.
In addition to serving as the world’s ‘breadbasket,’ Ukrainian wheat accounts for nearly 40% of the World Food Program’s (WFP) grain supply. For countries who rely on international aid to feed its undernourished populations, the war in Ukraine jeopardizes the support capabilities of relief agencies to help alleviate world hunger. For example, nearly 19 million Yemenis are categorized as ‘food insecure’ – meaning they are unable to acquire reliable access to affordable, nutritious food due to unavailability or lack of financial resources. The current global increase in wheat prices alone has increased the WFP emergency food assistance budget by $23 million per month only to compromise the ability of such aid agencies to cope with food insecurity in Yemen and beyond. إقرأ المزيد