Devex Dish: Ukraine isn't the only conflict driving the food crisis

Dish readers aren’t new to the idea that the majority of hunger worldwide is driven by conflict. And while we’re seeing the effects of the war in Ukraine ripple through the food system, in Burkina Faso — which is facing its hungriest year since violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group began ravaging the country six years ago — the causes are more local.

Soaring violence in Africa’s Sahel region is heightening food insecurity, and health workers tell Devex correspondent Sam Mednick that extremist violence is driving more people from Burkinabé villages as farming becomes infeasible. Peak hunger season is approaching in the country this month, and the number of severely malnourished children is expected to quadruple.

More than 630,000 people are expected to be on the brink of starvation, up a staggering 82% from last year. The U.N. estimates that some 3.5 million people — out of a population of 20 million — are food-insecure.

“Jihadists would come at night and steal our crops,” Zenabo Ouedraogo, a 20-year-old mother, tells Sam. She fled her village two years ago when jihadis began invading and has since moved to Ouagadougou, the nation’s capital. But she says she’s unable to afford enough food there, and her 6-month-old son has become severely malnourished.

Many have been driven from their farms as planting and harvesting became too dangerous. In the northern regions of Burkina Faso, between 30% and 50% of cultivated land has been lost due to insecurity.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is also part of the problem. It is stretching already meager NGO budgets even thinner, as international aid funds go toward Europe. And the conflict is severely affecting local food affordability: Burkina Faso imports more than a third of its wheat from Russia, and the war has contributed to an increase in food prices.

Read: Jihadi violence is pushing more people to starvation in Burkina Faso

Number munching

That’s the number of people already in “catastrophic” food security conditions, according to WFP and FAO. The U.N. agencies just released their acute food insecurity outlook for the coming months — and once again, you don’t need me to tell you that the picture is bleak. In 20 global “hunger hotspots,” acute hunger is expected to worsen by September.

Climate and conflict continue to drive food insecurity, as do continued effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen are again at the “highest alert” for catastrophic conditions, newly joined by Afghanistan and Somalia.

Check out the report for the full list of countries facing these alarming conditions.

Keep calm and Cary on

The U.S. made an important appointment last month in Cary Fowler, the first U.S. global food security envoy since 2016. Devex Pro subscribers can access more on this and all of the most recent #globaldev job moves, collected by my colleague David Ainsworth.

Who's who in #globaldev: May 2022 executive appointments (Pro)

+ A Devex Pro subscription brings you essential analysis, data-driven funding insights, and access to the world’s largest global development job board. Get these perks and more by signing up to our 15-day free trial.

A mouthful

My colleague Sara Jerving has been closely following the drought in the Horn of Africa and its effects on food security. A nurse practitioner in Somalia tells Sara there aren’t enough trained health workers to treat all the malnourished children, who are among those hit hardest by the drought. Humanitarian group CARE says the number of acutely malnourished children in its Somali facilities increased by 60% in the first four months of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021.

In East Africa as a whole, one person is estimated to die every 48 seconds due to the drought. Meanwhile, UNICEF tells Sara that the price of ready-to-use therapeutic foods has increased by about $6 to $7 per carton, and the cost is expected to rise by 16% over the next six months. As for Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region, former U.N. relief chief Mark Lowcock says that although “it was clear to me that there was famine” by the end of his tenure, authorities in Ethiopia blocked a famine declaration.

Horn of Africa: UNICEF spends $12M extra and children bear brunt of health crisis

Ethiopia: Government blocked famine declaration, says Lowcock

‘It’s blackmail’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Monday addressed global food and agriculture businesses, foundations, and NGOs to discuss the effects that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having on food security.

“President [Vladimir] Putin is stopping food from being shipped and aggressively using his propaganda machine to deflect or distort responsibility because he hopes it’ll get the world to give in to him and end the sanctions,” Blinken said. “In other words, quite simply put, it’s blackmail.”

Negotiations to release grain from Ukraine are ongoing, with the U.N. and various countries attempting to broker a deal with Russia. Turkey is in talks to help escort ships of grain out of the port of Odesa, as is the U.N. Meanwhile, African Union Chairperson Macky Sall told Putin last week that even though the continent was far from the battlefield, countries in Africa “are victims on an economic level" of the conflict.

+ Catch up on all our coverage of the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine.

TL;DR

Last week the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued yet another report examining U.S. food assistance. I read the 51-page document so you don’t have to. My main takeaway? GAO believes assistance provided under the Global Food Security Strategy is mostly fine but could be better.

Watchdog report: USAID could improve food security assistance

+ Catch up on all the latest news in U.S. aid.

Chew on this

The second EAT-Lancet Commission has launched and will release its report in 2024. [EAT]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released details of a new “Food System Transformation framework.” [USDA]

Wheat prices in May were up 5.6% from April — and are only 11% below the record high reached in March 2008. [FAO Food Price Index]