How war in Ukraine is impacting global food security

CNN’s David McKenzie reports on how the war in Ukraine is causing a shortage of wheat and grain leading to impacts on global food security.

Russia and Ukraine are both agricultural export powerhouses and the war is impacting supply chains across the world.

In Kenya, farmer Caroline Kimarua has been forced to lay off staff following rising fertiliser costs. Russia is one of the biggest fertilizer producers in the world. The cost of fertilizer and the natural gas used to make it, have soared. Sanctions and trade disruption could push prices even higher.

CNN also speaks to workers at a bakery in Lagos, Nigeria, where the supply of yeast has been affected.

Wandile Sihlobo, Chief Economist for the Agriculture Business Chamber of South Africa, says that the war has come at a particularly bad time, when many countries were beginning to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

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“The war is starting at one of the worst times. Because we were already thinking we are in a recovery mode from COVID-19. On top of that there were already inflation pressures that were across the world”

Sihlobo adds, “Africans are spending a lot on fuel and spending a lot on food and at this current moment this is a tough time for the continent.”

The impact of this conflict is coming on top of soaring global grain prices. While countries across the world are feeling the impact, economists are highlighting specific African countries like Senegal and Somalia which rely heavily on Ukrainian and Russian wheat.

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At the weekend, President of the African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina warned of an imminent global food crisis, advising African countries to prepare for the crisis.

Field questions as a guest at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Centre last weekend, the Bank chief called for an increased sense of urgency amid what he described as a once-in-a-century convergence of global challenges for Africa.

According to Adesina, the continent’s most vulnerable countries had been hit hardest by conflict, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, which had upended economic and development progress in Africa. He said Africa, with the lowest GDP growth rates, had lost as many as 30 million jobs on account of the pandemic.

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Speaking about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, Adesina expressed sympathy for the people of Ukraine, describing their suffering as unimaginable.

He said the war’s ramifications spread far beyond Ukraine to other parts of the world, including Africa. He explained that Russia and Ukraine supply 30% of global wheat exports, the price of which has surged by almost 50% globally, reaching identical levels as during the 2008 global food crisis.

He added that fertilizer prices had tripled, and energy prices had increased, all fueling inflation.

Adesina warned that the tripling costs of fertilizer, rising energy prices, and rising costs of food baskets, could worsen in Africa in the coming months. He noted that 90% of Russia’s $4 billion exports to Africa in 2020 was made up of wheat; and 48% of Ukraine’s nearly $3 billion exports to the continent was made of wheat and 31% of maize.