By Khalifa Musa Muhammad
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine starting a war that has sent shocking waves across the globe. The Russia-Ukraine war presents food, fertiliser and energy crises to many societies across the world. This war is coming at a time that the global food market is struggling to feed the increasing worldwide population. Both countries play key roles in the global food market and sadly they are currently engulfed in a war. In addition, Russia is a major supplier of fertiliser and energy. Russia satisfies a large chunk of the world’s energy demand. It is the second largest exporter of natural gas and the third largest exporter of crude oil in the world. Fuels are used to run industries and also transport goods and services. Any inadequate supply will hamper the transportation of goods and services and will affect numerous industries. This will lead to disruptions in the supply chain, which will cause failure to satisfy customers and end users in the global food market.
One of the many consequences of the war is that it will affect trade between Africa and the two countries. Africa has high food import bill of around $35 billion per year. According to African Development Bank (AfDB), the value would reach $90 billion by 2030. Although, Africa has the potential to reduce its food import bill, it has not worked towards leveraging on the potential. Sadly, factors like the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters (flood, drought and landslides) and conflicts keep forcing farmers off their lands and causing food shortages on the continent. To respond to the looming food crisis, countries will have to rely on assistance. On April 27, 2022, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the provision of $670 million for food assistance funding. Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan are among the beneficiaries. Since 2019, the number of people facing hunger in Africa has increased by 46 million according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Now, as a result of the war, more people will be affected. The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s biggest humanitarian organisation that focuses on hunger eradication and food security. Ukraine used to be the largest source of food for WFP before the war. The crisis in Ukraine will affect the activities of WFP. As a result of the crisis, the WFP expects its procurement bill to rise by $23 million per month and the cost of transportation would also rise by $6 million due to increased energy prices. Poverty in Africa has forced a lot of people to leave their homes and seek for greener pastures; forcing themselves on families that are already facing difficult situations. The increasing rate of malnourished children across the continent has shown that there is neither adequate food nor enough nutritious food for children. The United Nations reported that there will be a 27 per cent increase in global acute malnutrition for children under the age of five in 2022 compared to 2021. To tackle the rising global acute malnutrition, governments and donor agencies should urgently put in place measures that will make food available, affordable and accessible. It is the responsibility of government to ensure welfare of its citizens. Social protection efforts should be implemented to respond to such a food crisis. This will assist the realisation of African human rights law on access to nutritious food. According to a FAO report released in April 2022, food prices are 34% higher than they were as at the first quarter of 2021. Tellingly, food prices have never been this higher since FAO started recording statistics. When prices go up and income is constant, the purchasing power reduces. This severely hurts low-income households that spend a large amount of their incomes on food. African countries that rely on food imports are facing increased import bills as a result of the crisis.
To tackle the food crisis as a result of the war, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, was forced to establish the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance bringing together all UN agencies and international financial institutions. This UN group said that 41 countries in Africa are vulnerable to food, energy and financial crisis.
Food crisis is a serious security problem. Food insecurity can pave way for social unrest and can even lead to state failure.
Africa needs to establish rapid response measures to tackle challenges as a result of war, climate or diseases. Social protection systems can help cushion the effects of food insecurity and avoid a humanitarian crisis. It needs to avoid speculation or hoarding of agricultural commodities; improve domestic agricultural production capacity; invest in intervention measures to respond to food crises; avoid food wastage; invest in sustainable agricultural practices; enhance coordination between countries to facilitate trade; diversify sources of food, energy and fertilisers. The implementation of these approaches will help reduce food insecurity in Africa as well as facilitate the actualisation of the second Sustainable Development Goal “Zero Hunger”.
Africa has the capacity to respond to the looming food insecurity. The AfDB has established a $1.5 billion Africa Emergency Food Production Plan. It promised that 20 million farmers will benefit from improved seeds, fertilisers and other inputs to produce 38 million tons of farm produce. Hopefully, this will improve food availability across the continent. The AfDB should not be alone in this because “The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation”, according to John F Kennedy. Governments should set the right policies and put in place regulations that will encourage the private sector to invest in agribusiness.
The revamping of the agriculture sector requires multi-collaborative approach(es) between governments, NGOs, and donors amongst others. In order to ensure the utilisation of Africa’s vast arable land to boost agricultural activity in the continent. This will spur economic growth, lower food importation and enhance the sector to respond to shocks and risks.
Muhammad is a lecturer at Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna
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