Looming Hunger Catastrophe Set To Explode In Next 2 Years, 50 Million People In 45 countries Now Just One Step From famine: U.N Agency

The international community must act immediately to stop a looming hunger catastrophe by finding a solution that will let Odesa-area ports to resume functioning and allow Ukrainian wheat and grain to re-enter global food markets, the head of UN World Food Programme has urged.

The international community must act immediately to stop a looming hunger catastrophe by finding a solution that will let Odesa-area ports to resume functioning and allow Ukrainian wheat and grain to re-enter global food markets, the head of UN World Food Programme has urged.

The World Food Programme is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations. It operates as an humanitarian organization focused on hunger and food security, and the largest provider of school meals.

"Ukraine is a critically important breadbasket for the world, exporting tens of millions of tonnes of wheat, maize and barley each year, as well as sunflower seeds used to make vegetable oil. But these commodities have been wiped from food stocks overnight by the blockade of the Odesa-area ports in southern Ukraine." David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme noted in the preface to a new paper published by Tony Blair Institute.

Before the Russia-Ukraine war began, there were already 276 million severely hungry people marching towards starvation. But according to the latest analysis by World Food Programme’s latest analysis, the number has now to 345 million due. The analysis also estimates that a staggering 50 million people in 45 countries are now just one step from famine.

Up to 828 million people, or nearly 10 percent of the world’s population, were affected by hunger last year, 46 million more than in 2020 and 150 million more than in 2019, agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme, and World Health Organisation said on Wednesday in the 2022 edition of the UN food security and nutrition report.

The international community must act to stop this looming hunger catastrophe in its tracks – or these numbers will explode, he urged.

“Global food markets have been plunged into turmoil, with soaring prices, export bans and shortages of basic foodstuffs spreading far from Ukraine’s borders. Nations across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and even Latin America are feeling the heat from this conflict.” Beasley said in his preface.

He also noted that the threat to global food security is being exacerbated by the upheaval in worldwide fuel and fertiliser markets. He said that hortages and price spikes will sharply reduce access to these vital inputs for farmers on every continent.

“Without urgent action, food production and crop yields will be slashed. This raises the frightening possibility that on top of today’s food-pricing crisis, the world will also face a genuine crisis of food availability over the next 12 to 24 months – and with it, the spectre of multiple famines.” he cautioned.

Urging the governments across the world to resist from food protectionism and keep trade flowing across borders, he urged that surpluses and strategic stockpiles of key commodities must be released to protect the most vulnerable populations from starvation.

Beasley said that the world must learn the lessons of the current crisis and invest in sustainable development and resilience-building programmes to protect against future food insecurity.

" If we had successfully threaded this needle in the past, the war in Ukraine would not be having such a disastrous worldwide impact today." he said.