The number of people classed as “acutely food insecure” by the UN before the Covid crisis was 130 million, but after Covid this number rose to 276 million.
According
to report, a looming hunger catastrophe is set to explode over the next two
years, creating the risk of unprecedented global political pressure, the
director of the UN World Food Programme has warned.
Calling
for short- and long-term reforms – including an urgent lifting of the blockade
on 25m tonnes of Ukrainian grain trapped by a Russian blockade – Patrick
Beasley said the current food affordability crisis is likely to turn into an
even more dangerous food availability crisis next year unless solutions are
found.
Writing a
preface to a new pamphlet from the Blair Institute on the looming hunger
crisis, Beasley says: “This number has increased to 345 million due to the
Ukraine crisis. And a staggering 50 million people in 45 countries are now just
one step from famine.
“The international
community must act to stop this looming hunger catastrophe in its tracks – or
these numbers will explode.
“Global
food markets have been plunged into turmoil, with soaring prices, export bans
and shortages of basic foodstuffs spreading far from Ukraine’s borders. Nations
across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and even Latin America are feeling the
heat from this conflict.”
Beasley
says that threats to global food security have been exacerbated by the upheaval
in worldwide fuel and fertiliser markets.
“Without
urgent action, food production and crop yields will be slashed. This raises the
frightening possibility that on top of today’s food-pricing crisis, the world
will also face a genuine crisis of food availability over the next 12 to 24
months – and with it, the spectre of multiple famines.”
Food
prices reached a 10-year high in 2022, although there has been a slight easing
in the past two months. The crisis has been stoked by Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine and its Black Sea blockade preventing crucial grain exports.
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