Global Food Crisis Enters Critical Phase

May 22, 2022 (EIRNS)—From Russia’s Izvestia to the London Economist, the world is waking up to the fact that a hunger crisis of unprecedented dimensions is facing the planet—now.

“Ukraine’s exports of grain and oilseeds have mostly stopped and Russia’s are threatened,” the Economist reported in its latest edition. According to the magazine, the two nations supply 12% of “traded calories.” Earlier this week, wheat prices—up 53% since the start of 2022—reportedly soared by further 6% shortly after India prohibited all exports of the vital food commodity with immediate effect because of an alarming heatwave. Afghanistan has also announced that it is stopping all grain exports, in order to ensure domestic supply first. More than 22 million out of the 35 million population in Afghanistan face acute food shortages.

According to Izvestia, the combination of price rises and suspension of exports to protect domestic markets “has sparked fears of food insecurity and hunger around the world.” It is food importers, largely impoverished African and Middle Eastern nations, that stand to suffer most. “Producing countries will have their own difficulties, primarily related to energy prices, production costs and inflation, so it is likely that they simply will be too occupied to care for those countries that will be forced to starve,” Nikolai Vavilov, strategic research specialist at Total Research, is cited by Izvestia.