1.8 billion euros will be released to help West African countries, says the FAO. Since February 24, 2022, thousands of tonnes of cereals have been blocked in Ukraine, a major wheat exporting country.
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International mobilization against rising food prices. A sum of around 1.80 billion euros will be raised to help the countries of the Sahel and West Africa to fight against the worsening of the famine, indicated on April 7 the United Nations Organization for agriculture and food (FAO). The European Union has pledged an additional 67 million euros, bringing its commitment to 240 million euros for 2022, FAO said. France will provide 166 million euros this year.
Extreme droughts, the Covid-19 epidemic and now the war in Ukraine are “so many exacerbating factors” the risks of famine in the Sahel and West Africa, alerted the specialists gathered in Paris at the initiative of the European Union and the Club du Sahel et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.
While Russia and Ukraine are the world’s largest and fifth largest exporters of wheat, respectively, the FAO announced that world food prices in March reached their highest levels on record.
“Putin’s war against Ukraine is also a war against world food security. (…) The regions of the Sahel risk being the first to bear the brunt of it”
Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister of Foreign Affairsat AFP
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell also accused Russia of “cause world hunger” with the war in Ukraine, by destroying wheat stocks and preventing it from being exported, particularly to Africa. “Russia bombs fields in Ukraine, Russian warships block dozens of boats loaded with wheat”continued Mr. Borrell before adding: “They cause scarcity. They bomb Ukrainian cities and cause hunger in the world.”