An expert in food supplies warned of a global crisis in just ten weeks, as a result of the Russian war on Ukraine, according to a network reported.Fox News“.
“The world has only 10 weeks left to deal with the crisis,” said Sarah Minker, CEO of Grow Intelligence, during a special meeting of the UN Security Council. “This is catastrophic.”
Before Russia invaded its neighbor in February, Ukraine was the breadbasket of the world, exporting 4.5 million tons of agricultural products per month through its ports.
This represents 12 percent of the world’s total wheat and is “the main grain (in the diet) of billions of people, as well as 15 percent of maize, and half of sunflower oil.
“Even if the war were to end tomorrow, the food security problem would not go away any time soon without concerted action,” Minker said.
Minker uses artificial intelligence and public and private data to predict food supply trends.
Minker notes that the Russian invasion did not cause a food security crisis, but rather exacerbated the crisis.
“Without urgent and concerted global action, we risk an extraordinary amount of human suffering and economic damage,” Munkar said.
Menker’s warning comes in parallel with the statements of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Saturday, in which he attacked Russia for “closing almost all ports and all sea opportunities, so to speak, for the export of food, grain, barley, sunflower oil and other things,” warning that “there will be crisis in the world.
He said, “Russia will create a food crisis if we do not remove the roadblock to Ukraine, and if we do not help the countries of Africa, Europe and Asia that need these food products.”
He stressed that if his country did not regain control of the southern ports, “the world will face a difficult situation.”
And last week, Agence France-Presse quoted Sebastian Apis, director general of the Agricultural Thinking Club “Demeter” and a researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), that wheat in particular is at the center of a conflict in global markets that have been shaken by the war in Ukraine and its consequences.
He stressed that a “sustainable risk” hangs over the food security of fragile countries, in light of the sudden rise in prices and protection measures.
“There are 270 million tons of wheat stock on a planet that consumes 800 million tons annually. More than half is in China, which has a year’s worth of stocks,” he said.
Excluding China, all grain stocks are at their lowest level in 25 years.
