UN warns of looming widespread food crisis

Rome, Jun 6 (EFE).- The United Nations warned on Monday of a looming widespread food crisis and called for urgent humanitarian action in 20 ‘hunger hotspots’.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said the food crisis was the result of conflict, weather extremes, economic shocks and the lingering impacts of Covid-19.

“We are deeply concerned about the combined impacts of overlapping crises jeopardizing people’s ability to produce and access foods, pushing millions more into extreme levels of acute food insecurity,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in a statement.

The UN report said that the war in Ukraine had exacerbated the already increasing food and fuel prices worldwide and that the effects of these were already being felt across all regions.

“We’re facing a perfect storm that is not just going to hurt the poorest of the poor – it’s also going to overwhelm millions of families who until now have just about kept their heads above water,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley warned.

Beasley added that the conditions were “much worse” than during the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2007-2008 food price crisis.

“We’ve already seen what’s happening in Indonesia, Pakistan, Peru, and Sri Lanka – that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We have solutions. But we need to act, and act fast,” he warned. EFE

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