First modification:
Although Ukraine is very distant from Latin America, Russia’s invasion of this territory and the unleashed war have brought complex effects to the region. The destruction of the Ukrainian productive apparatus, the inability to comply with the export of cereals such as wheat and corn, as well as the loss of harvests has caused a kind of global tension over access to these cereals, bringing with it an increase in prices, shortages and other factors impacting the economy.
The Ukrainian crisis has exposed the enormous differences in food production in Latin America. The region could produce food to supply the entire population of its countries, but due to its inequalities and climatic, political and technical factors, as foreseen by the World Food Program, Latin America would go through an acute crisis of food insecurity.
According to the World Food Program, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, about 9.3 million Latin Americans already suffered from food insecurity. Now, in the course of the invasion and the escalation of the conflict, this number is expected to rise to 13.3 million people.
How do Russia and Ukraine affect this situation? Russia, an aggressor country, is the world’s fourth largest producer of wheat and, due to international sanctions, cannot fully market it. Ukraine, for its part, is the seventh largest producer of wheat in the world and because of the war it cannot meet its commitments either. Given this scenario, India, the third largest producer of cereals in the world, prohibited crop exports to guarantee domestic consumption.
All this caused food prices, at least in Latin America, to have increased between 8 and 13%. In addition, the war has led to the cost of fertilizers made in Russia and Belarus and popularly marketed in the region increasing their prices by 300%, which makes food production even more difficult.
This scenario reopens the debate on the enormous inequalities that exist in Latin America, the production model, the poor infrastructure and the unequal distribution of land in a region with the capacity to produce different types of food for its inhabitants.
Is Latin America facing a possible food crisis? Could its impact be mitigated? Could Latin America be self-sufficient as a region? What solutions are feasible? There are many questions regarding this possible food crisis scenario in Latin America and we analyze them in this edition of El Debate together with our guests:
– Espedito Nastro, World Food Program officer and food security analyst.
– Miguel García Arias, regional director for Central America of the NGO Acción Contra el Hambre.
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