Africa is facing an unprecedented food crisis.
Nearly 282 million, or a fifth of the population, are undernourished, 57 million more than at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis published in Rome by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO, the Commission of the African Union (AU), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the WFP World Food Programme.
According to the report, over a billion people on the African continent cannot afford a healthy diet. About. 30 percent of young children under the age of five show developmental disorders as a result of malnutrition.
Africa is still far from achieving its 2030 food security target and eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2025. The publication during the COP28 climate conference in Dubai aims to draw attention to the link between climate problems and hunger.
Tragic data from 2023
According to the UN World Food Program, 2023 will be the year of the worst hunger crisis in history. At least 129,000 people could face famine in Burkina Faso, Mali, Somalia and South Sudan. The reasons for this state of affairs must be seen in the dependence of the African continent on the import of agricultural products from abroad.
Before the war, exports from Russia and Ukraine accounted for more than half of the food in fifteen African countries. After February 24, global wheat and corn prices rose by hundreds of dollars. After seventeen months of war, prices have not returned to 2021 levels. The price increase was accompanied by export restrictions. The Russian attack on Ukraine resulted in a shortage of 30 million tons of grain across Africa.
End of the grain agreement
The solution to the food problems would be a grain deal, which Kiev and Moscow would negotiate through Ankara. Thanks to the grain corridor, African countries received grain and prices on the world market fell. However, Russia withdrew from the agreement.
The Kremlin offered Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, the Central African Republic and Eritrea to supply 25 to 50 thousand. 3-4 months free. These are quantities, Ukraińska Pravda notes, that could be loaded onto a small ship. Moscow’s offer was ignored by African countries. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that his country was not asking for gifts.
– We proposed the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, we talked about the need to open the Black Sea […] to global markets, he said.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
