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Indonesia warns of global food insecurity
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Retno LP Marsudi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, shakes hands with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York, September 18, 2022, during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
(AFP/Craig Ruttle )
I
ndonesia has raised the alarm on a potential fertilizer shortage that could jeopardize the food security of billions of people worldwide, as tougher Russia sanctions are sought even amid fears of disastrous harvests next year.
The focus of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this year has shifted from concerns over global health due to COVID-19 to food security, which many have singled out as a key topic to emerge from the conflict in Ukraine.
Even though the UN- and Turkey-led Black Sea Grain Initiative from July has helped dampen the soaring prices of Ukrainian grain and Russian fertilizer and get them out to global markets, there could be more at stake for the world if Western sanctions on Russia are left unchecked.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain producers and the Russian invasion has sent global prices soaring. Moscow has cast blame on Western sanctions, an assertion denounced by Washington, which says it is not targeting agricultural or humanitarian goods, AFP reports.
One McKinsey study suggests that the war in Ukraine has resulted in declining global production of wheat by 15 million to 20 million tonnes in 2022 – and possibly up to 40 million tonnes in 2023. Meanwhile, experts warn that disruptions in fertilizer shipments could seriously impede future harvests worldwide.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has warned that if the global community cannot prevent the issue of fertilizer scarcity from getting out of hand, then the outlook for global food security next year will become “bleak” and potentially wreak havoc on rice harvests.
“If because of fertilizer [shortages], rice harvest yields experience decline or crop failure, then the welfare of 2 billion people is at stake – the majority of whom are in Asia,” she told reporters in New York, the United States, on Tuesday.
