Food security in peril

WITH Russia opting out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative nearly a year after the deal was brokered by the UN and Turkey, and warning that it could not guarantee a safe passage to ships, the situation is, unfortunately, back to square one. The prospect of a food crisis amid soaring inflation looms large, just like it did soon after the Russia-Ukraine war erupted in February 2022. Food security across the world, especially in poorer nations, is imperilled once more as the pact that facilitated unimpeded access of shipments of food and fertilisers to the global markets through the Black Sea routes lies in tatters.

Considering that the two warring countries are among the largest producers of wheat, maize, barley and sunflower, with Ukraine dubbed as Europe’s ‘breadbasket’, the choking of its ports is bound to escalate food insecurity and malnutrition in countries dependent on exports from the region. The enormity of the deal’s impact can be gauged from the fact that a whopping 33 million tonnes of grains passed through Ukraine’s seaports under the initiative in the past year and helped stabilise global food prices. India’s sunflower oil import is likely to be hit as Ukraine accounts for nearly three-quarters of its needs and Russia is its second biggest supplier.

Things have worsened as Ukraine’s agricultural production has been drastically reduced — by nearly 35 per cent, as per a report — due to the war, even as Russia has been recently targeting its Black Sea port of Odesa and farm infrastructure. Russia is upset as its demands have not been accepted. Both nations are unwilling to relent. The UN should mediate for a way out of the current impasse — if not the end of hostilities — that threatens to strike a body blow to the needy nations.