Supply chain disruptions, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, financial tightening through rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine have caused an unprecedented shock to the global food system
This is the UK, one of the most developed countries in the world, where supermarkets are rationing purchases of some fruit and vegetables. What does this signify?
According to a statement by the World Bank this month, supply chain disruptions, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, financial tightening through rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine have caused an unprecedented shock to the global food system.
While wheat and grain prices have seen a minor dip, the costs of vegetables have been soaring. As a result of this, countries from all over the world (Morocco, Kazakhstan, Philippines, etc) have put a ban on exports.
The sharp tip of this soar is helmed by the onion, one of the most used vegetables in the world. 106 million metric tonnes is the worldwide annual production of onions.
This food security crisis is a domino effect of the savage 2022 Pakistan floods, frost-damaged stockpiles in Central Asia and the Ukraine invasion. Produce in North Africa has plummeted as a result of recurring droughts and subsequent increase in costs of seeds and fertilisers.
In the Philippines, the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has boosted imports to tame the highest inflation in 14 years. In Turkey, onion prices have risen by 700 per cent over the past year.
Around four-fifths of low-income countries and more than 90 per cent of lower-middle-income countries have seen year-on-year food price increases in excess of five per cent in 2023. For many, the inflation rates are much higher.
In India as well, food inflation increased sharply from 4.2 per cent to 6 per cent between December and January. More than three billion people worldwide now cannot afford a healthy diet.
In the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2022, the ‘cost of living crisis’ tops the list of threats over the next two year period. According to the latest January 2023 survey of the World Economic Forum’s Community of Chief Economists, there are tentative prospects of an easing of the cost-of-living and energy crises by the end of this year.
But for now, the future remains uncertain.
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