U.S. Seeks Global Efforts to Contain Deepening Food Crisis Driven Up By The War

As the war in Ukraine enters its seventh week, Washington is urging for global efforts to limit the damage from fast-spreading food shortages sparked by Russia’s invasion, albeit they face complex logistical challenges, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

“The reality is that Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked war against Ukraine has put millions around the globe at risk of food insecurity,” Ramin Toloui, assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs said in Washington during a telephonic briefing hosted by the State Department's Foreign Press Center.

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s most significant exporters of agricultural commodities and fertilizer, and as a result this cold-blooded and reckless war of choice against Ukraine will be felt by the world’s most vulnerable citizens.

Because of the Kremlin’s invasion, Toloui said, Ukrainian farmers who otherwise would be planting fields that help feed the world, must instead take up arms to defend their homeland.

"Putin’s war has destroyed Ukraine’s roads, railways, and rail stations that facilitate overland transportation, and Russia has destroyed grain silos and food storage facilities. Russia’s forces have attacked multiple ships carrying goods out of the Black Sea, including at least one that had been chartered by an agribusiness firm", the assistant secretary explained.

When asked about a short list of affected products, the assistant secretary told TURAN's Washington correspondent that the most significant ones include corn, wheat, sunflower products, and also fertilizers.

The Black Sea is a key outlet for these sorts of products reaching global markets.

Per Washington officials, Putin’s actions are threatening vulnerable people in the Middle East and Africa with food scarcity or, worse, starvation.

To address the growing problem, the Biden administration is working with its allies and partners to "help mitigate the harms," as the assistant secretary put it.

President Biden recently announced that the U.S. is prepared to provide more than $1 billion in new funding towards humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Kremlin’s war. This is in addition to approximately $300 million in humanitarian assistance already provided to Ukraine and the region since February.

"This immediate humanitarian response is on top of our long commitment to enhance global food security through our development assistance programming. For example, the U.S. has committed more than $11 billion over three years, subject to congressional appropriation, to tackle food security threats and malnutrition across the globe, including through key initiatives like Feed the Future, to address the root causes of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition", Toloui said.

Asked by TURAN whether throwing money at the problem would be enough, the assistant secretary agreed that it's not just about throwing money at the problem; it’s about, "trying to overcome the problem of food that is, in some places, not getting to the food where it’s needed."

And so there is a logistical problem: "That’s one reason I emphasized the importance of ending the war, because that will facilitate the movement of foodstuffs out of the Black Sea region to the rest of the world. It’s also a matter of supporting the work of the World Food Program with financial donations and with in-kind donations. They are experts in reaching populations that are at risk of food insecurity through their humanitarian architecture"

In the longer term, he said, it’s very important that our food security efforts support initiatives to help vulnerable countries grow their own food, support their own agricultural systems, particularly small farmers.

Many global food security experts have also expressed their fear that Russia's war in Ukraine could cause a surge in severe malnutrition and even starvation far beyond the region.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C,