Devex Dish: Who’s being impacted the most by the global food crisis

This week, my colleague Shabtai Gold and I bring you the latest on where things stand with the food price crisis — and you’re probably not surprised to learn that things aren’t good. The effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are trickling down the already stressed food system, and the poorest are feeling it most acutely.

“Advanced economies [are] buying the energy supplies that they need. … But then the developing countries and the poor around the world are left with less fertilizer and less ability to plant crops for the next crop cycle,” World Bank President David Malpass says, arguing that more production needs to come online.

The bank is predicting that the global wheat supply will decline for the second consecutive year as grain in Ukraine, which exported 10% of the world’s wheat supply in 2021, remains stuck in ports blockaded by Russian forces. The European Union is trying to get that stock out of the country via rail and truck.

The price hikes are starting to have real effects on people’s lives in lower-income countries. Last week, bakers in Burkina Faso went on a brief strike after the government limited their ability to raise prices on baguettes.

Fertilizer prices have more than doubled in the last year, putting the input out of reach for many farmers who can’t afford to spend more.

Instead of “throwing money” at subsidies for fertilizer, which would only increase demand and drive the price up further, international financial institutions should use funding to create country “soil maps,” Máximo Torero, chief economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization, tells us. These can provide insight into which types of fertilizers are needed in what areas, improving productivity and efficiency, which will help build resilience in the medium term.

We’ll of course continue to cover how the food, fuel, and fertilizer crisis is affecting local food systems. What effects are you seeing where you live? Write to me at dish@devex.com to share how the price spikes are impacting your community.

Read: Why the food crisis might get worse before anything gets better

A helping hand

Sri Lanka is asking its neighbors for food assistance amid a worsening food crisis in the country. According to The Financial Times, the country is applying for aid from a food bank operated by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Food prices are soaring in the country after the government banned fertilizers last year and it defaulted on its debt last month. Last week, Shabtai reported on the country’s financial mess — for Devex Pro subscribers.

ICYMI: How big is Sri Lanka's mess — and is there a way out? (Pro)

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Taking stock

The U.S. Agency for International Development needs to prioritize recommendations to improve its Feed the Future initiative, according to a letter the U.S. Government Accountability Office wrote to Administrator Samantha Power. The recommendations, made last year, require the agency to establish performance measures for Feed the Future. As my colleague Adva Saldinger reported at the time, the flagship global food security initiative “fails to properly use data to monitor how projects promote agriculture, resilience, and nutrition and that it needs to improve reporting processes.”

The recommendations — which GAO made last year but named last week as “priority recommendations” — require the agency to establish two things:

• FTF-wide performance goals to assess progress toward its strategic and overarching goals.

• FTF-wide targets for indicators required as applicable to meet its overall mission.

According to GAO, USAID has 29 open recommendations as of April 2022.

Recap: Government watchdog report finds Feed the Future data falls short

Background reading: How USAID's $5B investment in Feed the Future will be spent (Pro)

Number munching

That’s the amount of additional funding UNICEF says it needs to treat children with severe acute malnutrition. According to the agency, more than 1 million children a year die as a result of the condition, which can be treated fully with a $100 ready-to-use therapeutic food or RUTF. But over 10 million children do not have access to RUTF, and UNICEF says that the price of the treatment is projected to increase by up to 16% over the next 6 months due to a rise in the cost of raw ingredients and delivery.

So what exactly is in RUTF? Dr. Mesfin Teklu Tessema, the head of the International Rescue Committee’s health unit, explains in an op-ed for Devex that the lifesaving intervention is a nutrient-rich fortified peanut butter paste — inspired by Nutella — that can fully recover a malnourished child, helping them regain the strength to walk or fight off routine illness in a matter of months.

But Tessema warns that the war in Ukraine will further drive the malnutrition crisis — and the world needs to act now to scale up RUTF production and ensure that when surges in demand inevitably happen, the supply is already available.

Opinion: War in Ukraine is driving a malnutrition crisis. Enter RUTF

‘The worst we have witnessed’

In addition to increasing treatment for children, food security experts are also calling for more investment to promote the global transformation to a more regenerative, resilient food system.

In an op-ed for Devex, three experts who have witnessed famine in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen, — along with hunger spikes following the 2008 economic crisis — say that though these past crises have toppled governments, impoverished millions, and destroyed decades of economic and social progress, the current food crisis “is the worst we have ever witnessed.”

“If we don’t take steps to address the underlying inefficiencies and insufficiencies in the food system, the crisis will be perpetual,” they say.

Opinion: Food crisis underscores urgency of systemwide transformation

Chew on this

Climate change will make the U.S. Corn Belt unsuitable for cultivating corn by 2100 unless there are major technological advances in agricultural practices. [Science Daily]

The Spanish government has nominated Alvaro Lario, International Fund for Agricultural Development's chief financial officer, as a candidate for the agency’s presidency. [LinkedIn]

Researchers have compared and contrasted two distinct versions of sustainability in agriculture — sustainable intensification and land sparing vs. agroecology and land sharing. [Chatham House]

Africa’s transition to a bioeconomy can address a wide range of issues such as broader food security, carbon farming, and sustainable construction. [Melabo Montpelier Panel]

Rumbi Chakamba contributed to this edition of Devex Dish.