Russia’s aggression against Ukraine threatening global food supply, says UN official

The Russian agression against Ukraine has largely threatened global food supply and pushed developing countries at risk, the executive director of UN food agency, World Food Program (WFP), David Beasly, warned on Monday. At least 40 million people in Ukraine are in dire need of food, water, and safety, he said in a video shared on his Twitter handle. In addition, more than 40 African and least-developed nations that import wheat from Ukraine and Russia have also been facing the heat of the three-week-long unfolding Russian violence in Ukraine.

Ukraine supplies nearly 50% of grains to feed "125 million we (WFP) reach on any given day, week or month," Beasly said while speaking to the Associated Press during his visit to the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Further, the ex-Soviet nation is also responsible for 20% of the global corn supply, he added, which the farmers cannot grow during the spring sowing season.

"So, (the war) is going to have a dynamic global catastrophic impact," WFP executive director David Beasly said, as quoted by AP.

Agriculturally productive parts of Ukraine are currently under arbitrary aerial attack and unhindered bombing, a Financial Times report said. The volatility of the war has also made farming practically impossible for farmers in the fertile fields in Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Zhytomyr. Even if the war ends anytime soon, the world will witness a slug of 10% to 50% in agrarian products, including wheat, barley, corn, rapeseed and sunflower oil, FT mentioned.  

Russia-Ukraine war to impact food supply to developing nations: UN Chief

The fall in the supply of food grains is expected to largely impact the developing nations, mostly in the African continent. At least 18 out of the 40 African countries import 50% of wheat from Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday, as quoted by AP. Those countries include Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Congo and Burkina Faso. "All of this is hitting the purest the hardest and planting the seat for political instability and unrest around the globe," Guterres said. The UN has announced an additional $40 million from its emergency funding to ensure critical supplies of food, water, and medicine to Ukraine. The colossal Moscow-Kyiv war has so far displaced nearly 1.9 million, and pushed war-torn Ukraine towards the brink of "humanitarian catastrophe."  

(Image: AP)