By Hauwa Ali
The United States, World bank and other groups have formed a partnership meant to address global food security crisis which has worsened with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The partnership, aimed at preventing global starvation was imperative as António Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned again, on May 18th that the coming months threaten “the spectre of a global food shortage” that could last for years.
The World Bank immediately announced actions it plans to take as part of a comprehensive, global response to the ongoing food security crisis, with up to $30 billion in existing and new projects in areas such as agriculture, nutrition, social protection, water and irrigation.
“Food price increases are having devastating effects on the poorest and most vulnerable,” said World Bank Group President David Malpass.
The financing, according to the bank, will include funding to encourage food and fertilizer production, enhance food systems, facilitate greater trade, and support vulnerable households and producers.
The world bank further called on countries to make concerted efforts to address the problem.
“To inform and stabilize markets, it is critical that countries make clear statements now of future output increases in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Countries should make concerted efforts to increase the supply of energy and fertilizer, help farmers increase plantings and crop yields, and remove policies that block exports and imports, divert food to biofuel, or encourage unnecessary storage.” The World Bank Group President added.
In a swift response the United States also announced its plans to address the worldwide food security crises.
The US Department of the Treasury announced it was “working swiftly” with several global development banks, “to bring to bear their financing, policy engagement, technical assistance” to prevent starvation prompted by the war, rising food costs and climate damage to crops.
Tens of billions of dollars will be spent on supporting farmers, addressing the fertiliser supply crisis, and developing land for food production, among other issues.
The Asian Development Bank will contribute funds to feeding Afghanistan and Sri Lanka and the African Development Bank will use $1.5bn to assist 20 million African farmers, according to the Treasury.
The plan stems from a meeting that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen convened in April at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, where she called on powerful nations to look for specific ways to combat a looming crisis over food insecurity around the globe that had worsened with the war in Ukraine.
The United Nations says, in just 2years, the number of people suffering from severe malnutrition and food insecurity has doubled from 105 million before the pandemic, to 276 million.
