Good food is vulnerable to disruption. First officially identified in the 2017 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the WorldReport, conflict is a key driver of food insecurity and malnutrition across the globe.
On 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine. The armed conflict has triggered a mass migration of six million people to date, a sharp rise in global food prices and growing uncertainty across global markets – all of which could result in a major food crisis. As the conflict continues to escalate and enters its fourth month, experts predict severe impacts for food security and agriculture in the short and long-term, for Ukraine and the world.
Good food is vulnerable to disruption. First officially identified in the 2017 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the WorldReport, conflict is a key driver of food insecurity and malnutrition across the globe. Within Ukraine, besieged cities are running out of food while the country’s farmers face security fears coupled with fertiliser and fuel shortages that risk impeding the next planting season. Further afield, the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure and the closure of its ports are likely to impact the food security of countries reliant on food imports from Ukraine.
There is growing concern that we will see a further rise in hunger and malnutrition, especially in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, that have experienced higher rates of hunger in the last few years and were hit hard by the economic impact of COVID-19. Low income households spend a larger portion of their income on food, so a rise in food prices often means missing meals, forgoing the more expensive nutrient rich foods, or selling off assets to be able to buy food. For women and children in the critical 1,000 days between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday, even short bouts of malnutrition can lead to wasting and stunting. The consequences can be life-long and devastating for health and physical and cognitive development, taking a huge toll on individuals, communities, and economies.
In light of this situation, we have compiled below a collection of resources that aims to inform advocates and identify actions to ensure good food for all in these difficult times.
“The food crisis might not reach critical levels this year, but we must not make the mistake of remaining inactive. Instead, we must think ahead to the next farming season, about fertiliser use efficiency and using all tools available today.”
The SDG2 Advocacy Hub hosted a special meeting on the impact of the Ukraine war on global food systems with summaries of presentations by Dr Máximo Torero, Dr Fadel Ndiame and Enock Chikava.
Read the key takeaways in article “In every crisis lies opportunity for lasting change: calls to action in light of the Ukraine war’s impacts on global food systems”.
Thought leadership
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in times of multiple crises
Seven Actions to Limit the Impact of War in Ukraine on Food Security
CGIAR researchers have identified priority actions for global policymakers to mitigate supply and price shocks and to improve resilience to future crises. This new report highlights the increased risk to global food security given that 2.5 billion people rely on just a few regions for wheat.
World Food Prize Laureates Call For Action
12 May – An open letter penned by the Laureates calls on the G7 to step up on a shared global strategy to reverse the increase in world hunger, address triple threat of COVID, climate change and conflict…
IFPRI Blog Series: High Food/Fertilizer Prices and War in Ukraine
Find the latest blogs from IFPRI with analyses on the implications of rising food and fertiliser prices, the potential impacts on global and regional food security, and policy responses that could help increase the resilience of national and global food systems.
Surging food prices: FAO calls for import financing facility for poorer nations at G20 meeting
20 April – FAO calls for a Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF) to buffer surging food prices for poorer countries.
Act now before Ukraine war plunges millions into malnutrition
21 April – The war against Ukraine and the global pandemic are creating a global health and nutrition crisis for millions of women and children, warns a new analysis published in Nature.
Putin’s War Has Started a Global Food Crisis
5 April – Oped by Sara Menker and Rajiv Shah puts the conflict in Ukraine and its impacts within a wider context of climate change and severe droughts, weakened safety nets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, high oil prices and debt distress.
5 Ways to Avert the Global Food Security Crisis
24 March – “The conflict caught many off-guard; the food crisis need not.” Thought leadership piece by Paul Polman, Dr Agnes Kalibata and Shenggen Fan identifies five concrete actions to prevent a food crisis and build long-term food systems resilience.
Nutrition Under Siege, Again.
21 March – This article by Saskia Osendarp asks readers: How can we prevent this crisis from becoming a much bigger and longer-lasting crisis affecting the health and lives of millions of children now and in the future?
The world food system is under threat. It doesn’t have to be that way.
18 March – “The food crisis won’t end until governments around the world invest in a global agricultural system that meets farmers and consumers’ needs,” says Enock Chikava, connecting the dots between the rising food prices triggered by the conflict in Ukraine and decades-old broken food systems.
Secretary-General’s opening remarks to the press on the war in Ukraine
14 March – “We must do everything possible to avert a hurricane of hunger and a meltdown of the global food system,” says Secretary General António Guterres.
G7 Extraordinary Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting
11 March – Find here the “Statement on the invasion of Ukraine by armed forces of the Russian Federation” by the G7 Ministers of Agriculture.
Situation Analysis
Global impact of the war in Ukraine: Billions of people face the greatest cost-of-living crisis in a generation
8 June – Brief 2 from the UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance.
High fertilizer prices contribute to rising global food security concerns
25 April – Using IFPRI fertiliser dashboard, researchers discuss the underlying drivers of current high prices, explain why the global fertilizer market is particularly susceptible to shocks, and examine which countries are most vulnerable to fertilizer market disruptions.
Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance
Find the latest briefs, press released and news from the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG) that aims to provide high level political leadership.
How to Avert a Food Crisis Caused by Conflict in Ukraine
Find here all evidence, thought leadership, events and media related to the Ukraine Conflict from across the CGIAR system, including IFPRI.
FAO Food Price Index
Find here the monthly reports documenting changes in international prices of key food commodities. 3 June is the next release date.
Ukraine Crisis Agri-Information Hub
With the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine affecting production and trade disruption, how are farmers implicated? This World Farmers Organisation Information Hub provides timely updates on the global farming community.
FAO Ukraine crisis page
This new FAO Emergency page integrates critical up-to-date information on the situation and FAO’s response.
Food Security Monitor: Africa Food Trade and Resilience Initiative
This monthly publication aims to provide an overview of the food security outlook of countries in East, West and Southern Africa, detailing the prices of main food staples, government interventions and the impact of forecast weather changes and environmental conditions. Edition #22 highlights impacts of the Ukraine Conflict on the continent’s food security.
The Impact on Trade and Development of the War in Ukraine
16 March – “The results confirm a rapidly worsening outlook for the world economy, underpinned by rising food, fuel and fertiliser prices,” notes the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in this rapid assessment.
Protecting Maternal and Child Nutrition in the Ukraine Conflict and Refugee Crisis
8 March – A Joint Statement by UNICEF, the Global Nutrition Cluster, and Partners call for ALL involved in the response to the Ukraine Conflict Crisis to protect, promote, and support the feeding and care of infants and young children and their caregivers.
Global Implications
Food Banks are Early Warning Systems for Emerging Food Crises, but also a Key Solution
27 May – Food banks as an early warning system of the strains on our food systems.
Forty-Nine Million People in 43 Countries One Step Away from Famine, Secretary-General Warns in Briefing to Security Council on Conflict, Food Security
19 May – Find here UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ briefing to the Security Council on conflict and food security.
Local food and fuel prices more than triple in some of the world’s most at risk communities
6 May – New analysis from ActionAid warns that at the “local community level, food and fuel price hikes are far outstripping already record-breaking rises globally”, in a context of COVID-19, climate crisis, and conflict in Ukraine.
One of the world’s worst economic collapses, now compounded by the Ukraine crisis: What’s next for Lebanon?
6 May – IFPRI blog post delves into Lebanon’s unique vulnerability to food price rises, triggers by the war in Ukraine.
The Food, Fuel and Fertiliser Crisis
May – Policy brief from AGRA delve into the rising commodity prices across the African continent.
Tackling Food Insecurity: The Challenge and Call to Action
April 19 – U.S. Department of the Treasury meeting where U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, Director of IFAD Gilbert Houngbo, President of the World Bank David Malpass and more discuss the current food price crisis.
The Ukraine war and threats to food and energy security
13 April – A new report from Chatham House on the cascading risks from rising prices and supply disruptions.
A New Global Food Crisis is Building
8 April – President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, analyses the effects of current trade interventions on food prices.
Out of Ukraine war, a plan for Africa’s food security
25 March – Op-ed in Reuters highlights how soaring food prices triggered by the conflict in Ukraine is “is galvanising action to boost local food production and tackle climate threats”.
‘A heck of a problem’: WFP chief warns of aid crisis amid Ukraine war
22 March – “Try quadrupling the food pricing in Sahel and Niger, in Syria, and people are not going to survive,” says ED David Beasley at this week’s European Humanitarian Forum.
Price Spike Caused by Ukraine War Will Push Over 40 Million into Poverty: How Should We Respond?
18 March – “Governments and international agencies will need to act quickly and generously to anticipate and support humanitarian needs — but they should also use the crisis as an opportunity to reform agricultural policies in the EU and US that are undermining food security.”
War-Fueled Surge in Food Prices to Hit Poorer Nations Hardest
16 March – This IMF blog notes the differing impacts of rising food prices for varying parts of the globe, as a function of eating habits, household income level and reliance on imports from Ukraine and Russia. It also notes a few recommendations for policymakers.
Ukraine invasion may lead to worldwide food crisis, warns UN
14 March – “The war is putting us in a situation where we could easily fall into a food crisis,” says Dr. Máximo Torero, FAO’s Chief Economist. This article highlights an alarming scenario: if the conflict continues, food prices will continue to rise with poor countries most affected. It also undermines the importance of continued global trade and open markets to protect food security.
How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will worsen global hunger
2 March – “For Van der Ploeg, ‘the fact that most countries in the world depend on food imports for feeding their population’ has created ‘a web of dependencies…this web is basically controlled by a small set of large and powerful food empires.”
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