World Bank, IMF, WTO, FAO raise alarm over food crisis
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), World Bank Group (WBG) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) demand urgent action to solve the global food crisis.
Qu Dongyu; FAO Director-General, Kristalina Georgieva; IMF Managing Director, David Malpass; WBG President, David Beasley, WFP Executive Director and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, WTO Director-General, released a joint statement on Wednesday.
The heads revealed that the ongoing war in Ukraine has been worsening the food security and crisis of nutrition, causing higher volatility in food, fertilizer and energy prices.
They revealed that despite the reprieve in the prices of food and the beginning of exports of grain from the Black Sea, food still remained inaccessible for many due to inflated prices.
The volatility of the fertiliser markets has been high, especially in Europe, where high prices and tight natural gas supplies forced many producers of urea and ammonia to withdraw operations.
The organizations appreciated the efforts of the Global Crisis Response Group and the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has assisted the export of three million metric tons of grain and foodstuffs from Ukraine.
“We remain committed to working together to address immediate food security and nutrition needs, tackle structural market issues that may exacerbate adverse impacts, and build countries’ resilience to prevent and mitigate the impacts of future.
“Effective and sustainable support to smallholder farmers will be vital to ensure they are part of the solution and to localise supply chains,” the officials added.
