War will worsen world food insecurity, says WFP director

The war in Ukraine will further increase the number of people facing hunger in the world, according to the director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), Daniel Balaban.

“We were already in a process of deterioration of the growing number of people with food insecurity, but the conflict will damage it even more because Russia and Ukraine are among the largest wheat producers in the world,” he said, in an interview with CNN.

According to Balaban, in times of war, production and, consequently, exports are interrupted. “That means prices will go up and there will be shortages of all kinds of foods, like meat, corn, oats, rye.”

The WFP is responsible for purchasing food and passing it on to other countries, such as those in Africa. “The WFP already has its budget committed, if before with 100 dollars you could buy X tons, today prices have doubled”.

He points out that the world’s poorest countries, especially those in the south of the Sahara, “will be extremely affected”.

“These populations depended on support and these purchases, we will need more conditions to serve these countries and find solutions in the short and medium term”, he added.

The director said that the effects of the war “are immediate and tend to worsen over time”: “Countries have stocks, but they start to decrease. Brazil is a major buyer of fertilizers from Russia, without them, it has an impact on food production here in the country, these reflexes will be felt in various parts of the planet”.

Daniel Balaban stressed that a peace agreement is needed at this time. “War doesn’t solve anything, and yes, at the negotiating table, it’s time to sit down and try to find a viable solution”.

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