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U.S. government is concerned that Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine will cause famine in some parts of the world, as the war is
complicating the export of major produces like wheat and soybeans from the two
countries.
White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia
Rouse, on Friday, in an interview, told
CNBC the Biden Administration is working with international aid agencies to provide
humanitarian aid.
“We are concerned, particularly in the Middle East, parts
of Africa, and the Far East ... about famines and shortages in those parts of
the world,” Rouse said.
Russia and Ukraine serve as “the breadbasket” for many
parts of the world. While Ukraine is the fifth-largest exporter of wheat, Russia
is the seventh-largest exporter of soybeans worldwide.
Other than wheat and soybeans, there are other agricultural
products, including sunflower seeds, to produce edible oil, to which Ukraine
holds the crown for the largest exporter.
Moreover, the war is complicating efforts to plant these
key crops, as well as export them. Higher energy and fertilizer prices are
compounding the problem.
The war in Ukraine has further increased food prices after
two years of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation in East Africa is worrisome as Russia and
Ukraine are responsible for about 90% of the wheat imported to the region,
according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP).
In March, Jakob Kern, the WFP’s emergency coordinator for
Ukraine, said the agency buys nearly half of its wheat export from Ukraine to supply
them to other countries.
However, WFP
is paying an extra $71 million a month to procure wheat and other agricultural
produce from the war-ridden country in 2022 due to both inflation and the crisis,
Kern said, mentioning that such an amount would cover the food supplies for 4
million people.