The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called for a global response to surging global food prices in a statement on Wednesday, as the Ukraine war continues to impact the global economy.
The FAO said that poorer countries were particularly vulnerable to the surge in food prices and has set forth the Global Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF) initiative to increase sustainable global agricultural production.
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The Ukraine war could drive as many as 13.1 million more people into hunger between 2022 and 2026, compared to the baseline, the organization said.
“The war can have multiple implications for global markets and food security,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said late Wednesday in a video message to a Group of 20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Washington.
Dongyu also added that the FIFF would also complement existing mechanisms within the UN system and be strictly based on urgent needs and limited to low and lower middle-income net food-importing countries.
In the FIFF proposal, the FAO said that food prices already began to rise sharply almost two years ago, “culminating the benchmark FAO Food Price Index reaching an all-time high in March 2022.”
Aside from the war in Ukraine, the organization attributed this rise in prices to “robust demand supported by the swift and strong recovery from COVID-19 related economic contractions.”
Additionally, fertilizer and fuel prices also added to the cost of food production and higher prices in general. This has manifested on an international level through logistical hurdles, higher transportation costs, and global supply chain disruptions.
Designed to increase future resilience, the FIFF asks eligible countries to invest more in sustainable agrifood systems, an initiative which Dongyu said has been stress-tested by the organization for its impact on the global market.
“The lesson learned is that we need to increase agricultural production and productivity in the world while being sustainable,” Qu told the meeting. “It is high time to work together for ending hunger and malnutrition in the world.”
“The conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation has only exacerbated matters in recent weeks. Both countries are major producers and exporters of wheat as well as several other commodities, casting doubt on whether international markets will be supplied with enough food to meet the import needs of a global population fast reaching 8 billion,” the proposal stated.
Russia and Ukraine are important players in the global food market, with over 50 countries dependent on them for around 30 percent of their wheat import needs.
Russia is one of the world’s leading exporters of fertilizers, especially nitrogen, which is derived from the country’s natural gas reserves. In 2020, it also ranked as the world’s leading supplier of potassium and the third-largest exporter of phosphorous fertilizer.
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