NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has impacted developing countries with spiralling energy and commodity prices and disruptions in global logistical supply chains,’’ said Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan who is representing India in the UN on 'Global Food Security Call to Action,' the meeting of foreign ministers in New York.
Quoting the Global Report on Food Crises’ Muraleedharan said 139 million people had suffered across the world from conflict induced acute food insecurity – up by around 30 per cent reported previously. He futher stated that the situation is a severe issue and can’t be neglected.
He reportedly said that India remains strongly committed to the cause of global food security. India has contributed to UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund & UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) in response to various humanitarian crises over the years, he noted.
Interestingly, 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 2 and 3 producers of potash a key ingredient of fertiliser. There are an estimated 22 million tons of grain sitting in silos in Ukraine right now, food that could immediately go toward helping those in need if it can simply get out of the country.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who chaired a session said that just when the world was beginning to gather itself from the impact of the pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine happened. This has not just impacted those in Ukraine but has had a cascading impact globally by increasing food insecurity.
"The Russian Government’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, according to the World Bank, may drive 40 million additional people worldwide into extreme poverty and food insecurity this year. Indeed, every driver of the crisis that has been discussed today has been made worse by President Putin’s war of choice,’’ he said.
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has underlined that hunger levels around the world are at a new high and made a call for action to fight the current surge in global food insecurity.
"The number of severly food insecure people has doubled in just two years from 135 million pre pandemic to 276 million today. With more than half a million experiencing famine conditions – an increase of more than 500 per cent since 2016,’’ Guterres said adding that these figures are linked to the conflict.
The climate emergency is another driver of global hunger. Around 1.7 billion people have been effected by the extreme weather and climate related disasters over the past decade.
Meanwhile, the United States has announced more than $2.3 billion in new funding for emergency food assistance to meet global humanitarian needs since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
``Today, given the urgency of the crisis, we’re announcing another $215 million in new emergency food assistance. And we’ll do much more. We expect our Congress very soon to approve approximately $5.5 billion in additional funding for humanitarian assistance and food security,’’ Blinken added.