Algemeen·NRC·20 apr

The impending global food shock is preventable

Four years ago the world averted a humanitarian catastrophe—or seemed to. One giant cereal producer, Russia, invaded another, Ukraine. Fears of food shortages spread in poor countries unable to pay suddenly astronomical prices for wheat and other staples. Then the two foes agreed to let grain-laden ships sail from their Black Sea ports. Markets calmed; hunger vanished from the headlines. But not from destitute lives. The Ukraine war is thought to have killed more people in the global south than on the battlefields of eastern Europe.