Ukraine invasion may cause ‘global food crisis’, UN warns

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could soon cause a global food crisis that may last for years, the United Nations (UN) has warned.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday (18) said the war had worsened food insecurity in poorer nations due to rising prices.

Addressing a food security meeting at the United Nations hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Guterres appealed to Russia to allow “the safe and secure export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports” and for Russian food and fertilizers to “have full and unrestricted access to world markets.”

Speaking in New York, Guterres said the conflict – combined with the effects of climate change and the pandemic – “threatens to tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity followed by malnutrition, mass hunger and famine”.

“There is enough food in our world now if we act together. But unless we solve this problem today, we face the specter of global food shortage in the coming months,” he added.

He warned that the only effective solution to the crisis was reintegrating Ukraine’s food production, as well as fertiliser produced by both Russia and Belarus, back into the global market.

Guterres also said he was in “intense contact” with Russia and Ukraine, as well as the US and the EU, in an effort to restore food exports to normal levels.

“The complex security, economic and financial implications require goodwill on all sides,” he said.

Guterres also warned this will worsen food, energy and economic crises in poor countries. Ukraine used to export most of its goods through seaports but since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, it has been forced to export by train or via its small Danube River ports.

Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies. 

Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, while Russia and Belarus – which has backed Moscow in its war in Ukraine – account for more than 40 percent of global exports of potash, a crop nutrient.