“Concerned about the rise in prices we are witnessing, we are exposing ourselves to a world war.” The cry of alarm came from none other than Italy’s Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, amid rising food costs, largely fueled by the war Russia launched in Ukraine.

“Next month Italy, in cooperation with the FAO, will support an initiative to address the food crisis in the Mediterranean area,” added Di Maio, referring to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The Foreign Minister also launched a call to resolve the supply crisis during the warwith the prices of raw materials, especially wheat, rising sharply and reaching their highest level since 1990 in March.

“The whole world is paying the price of war,” said Mykola Solsky, Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, in the framework of the G7 Agriculture meeting in Stuttgart, where he also spoke with his Italian counterpart, Stefano Patuanelli.

At the Stuttgart meeting, taking place in parallel with the G7 of Foreign Ministers in Schleswig-Holstein, representatives of the seven richest powers on the planet discussed. food safety compromised by the geopolitical crisis, sustainable food system and supply chain.

Ukraine, a “breadbasket of the world”

Known for its very fertile black soil, Ukraine was, before the Russian invasion, the fourth largest exporter of corn in the world and is on track to become the third largest exporter of wheat.

Today, so many goods are blocked at its ports, so the European Commission has made a plan to establish “solidarity corridors” to facilitate grain exports from kyiv to the EU and the rest of the world. .

“About 20 million tonnes have to leave the country’s silos three months before the next harvest, we are faced with a difficult situation,” Solski explained.

“If we cannot export the agricultural products that are in warehouses, we will not have space to accommodate new crops and the crisis will be systematic, a total blockage in the Ukrainian supply chain,” the Minister warned. of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba.

“We cannot afford it and I ask the African and Asian countries to put pressure on Russia to stop the war and remove the blockade on our ports,” the foreign minister said.

The approach to hunger

“Vladimir Putin’s strategy is to use hunger as a weapon of war, in Ukraine and beyond,” insisted German Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir, who called Russia’s wheat theft “disgusting.”

For FAO, a three-point plan is needed: maintain food production by supporting cereals and other crops; support agri-food chains and markets by engaging the government and private sector in providing services to small producers through public-private partnerships; and coordinate food security

Introducing it at the G7, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu called on countries to help anticipate future food shortages, “as the war in Ukraine reduces supplies, pushing prices to record highs and threatens vulnerable countries in Africa and Asia, ”he warned.

Source: ANSA

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