A leader of the United Nations Food and Agriculture program (FAO) said an already existing food crisis in Africa is getting worse.
Abebe Haile-Gabriel is assistant director of the program. He said the war in Ukraine is to blame.
“We have a very grim outlook going forward,” he said of the food supplies in some African countries. He noted that about half of the continent’s 54 countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for wheat. And over 11 of the countries import fertilizer from Russia.
Even before the war in Eastern Europe started in February, food prices in Africa were rising. The FAO said the cost of food staples rose 23 percent last year. That is faster than any year of the last 10.
Many African nations depend on supplies from the World Food Program. Tomson Phiri of the WFP said the costs for the program are rising as more people need aid.
The cost of grain in North Africa is increasing because those nations import a lot from Ukraine and Russia. In other parts of Africa, people can no longer easily buy cooking oils made from soy, corn and sunflower seeds.
For Edwin Dapi of Zimbabwe, it is getting hard to feed his wife and four children.
Dapi looked for vegetable oil at a food store in Harare. The 2-liter bottle costs about $2.76. His job pays him about $50 per month.
A 2-kilogram bag of flour costs more than $1, Reuters reported.
As he looked at the prices, Dapi said “I keep hearing it’s because of Ukraine but I don’t know what that has to do with us.”
if governments repurpose the resources they are using to incentivize the production, supply and consumption of nutritious foods, they will contribute to making healthy diets less costly, more affordable and equitably for all
Itís hard to come by educated people about this topic, however, you seem like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks