United Nations holds ministerial meeting on global food security

The meeting attracted many senior leaders of the United Nations and foreign ministers of more than 30 countries.

Speaking at the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that in the past year, global food prices have increased by nearly a third, fertilizer prices have increased by more than half and oil prices by nearly two-thirds. If prices for these commodities continue to soar, the cereal crisis could extend to many other foods including rice, affecting billions of people in Asia and the Americas.

Worldwide, the number of people with severe food insecurity has reached 276 million, double the pre-pandemic period. In addition to the causes of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is exacerbating this situation.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “War risks pushing tens of millions of people to the brink of food insecurity, in a crisis that could last for years. There is no single effective solution to the crisis. food crisis without the re-integration into the world market of the Ukrainian food industry, as well as food and fertilizers produced by Russia and Belarus”.

In addition to calling for an early end to the fighting, a number of other groups of solutions proposed by UN leaders and countries are: Reducing market pressure by increasing supply and not restricting exports, governments must promote agricultural production and invest in resilient food systems and increase humanitarian assistance to prevent hunger and support people’s livelihoods.

Conflict and inflation are causing shortages of fuel and fertilizers, pushing up food prices, causing many countries to start implementing policies to limit exports. It is forecasted that by the end of this year, the world will have 40 million more people falling into poverty. According to UN leaders, it is time to take a global approach to solving the problem of food security.

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