From the United Nations, May 18:
Opening remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the Global Food Security Call to Action - Ministerial Meeting
....And now the Russian invasion in Ukraine is amplifying and accelerating all these factors: climate change, COVID-19, and inequality.
It threatens to tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity, followed by malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years.
Between them, Ukraine and Russia produce almost a third of the world’s wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil. Russia and Belarus are the world’s number two and three producers of potash, a key ingredient of fertilizer.
In the past year, global food prices have risen by nearly one-third, fertilizer by more than half, and oil prices by almost two-thirds.
Most developing countries lack the fiscal space to cushion the blow of these huge increases.
Many cannot borrow because markets are closed to them. Those that are able to borrow are charged high interest rates that put them at risk of debt distress and default.
If high fertilizer prices continue, today’s crisis in grain and cooking oil could affect many other foods including rice, impacting billions of people in Asia and the Americas.
High rates of hunger have a devastating impact on individuals, families, and societies. Children may suffer the lifetime effects of stunting. Millions of women and children will become malnourished; girls will be pulled from school and forced to work or get married; and families will embark on dangerous journeys across continents, just to survive.
Ending hunger is within our reach.
There is enough food in our world now for everyone, if we act together.
But unless we solve this problem today, we face the spectre of global food shortages in the coming months.
I see five urgent steps for governments, International Financial Institutions and others, to solve the short-term crisis and prevent long-term catastrophe.
First, we must urgently reduce the pressure on markets by increasing supplies of food and fertilizers. There should be no restrictions on exports, and surpluses must be made available to those most in need.
But let’s be clear: there is no effective solution to the food crisis without reintegrating Ukraine’s food production, as well as the food and fertilizer produced by Russia and Belarus, into world markets -- despite the war.
Russia must permit the safe and secure export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports. Alternative transportation routes can be explored – even if we know that by itself, they will not be enough to solve the problem. Russian food and fertilizers must have unrestricted access to world markets without indirect impediments.
I have been in intense contact on this issue with the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey, the US, the European Union and several other key countries. I am hopeful, but there is still a long way to go. The complex security, economic and financial implications require goodwill on all sides for a package deal to be reached. I will not go into details because public statements could undermine the chances of success.....
....MUCH MORE
