The crisis in Ukraine has caused food prices to skyrocket globally in the last few weeks with some forecasts estimating up to a 20 percent increase. This is adding pressure to the already devastating hunger crises across the world and causing fears of food shortages.
Ukraine and Russia are important players in the global food export market. Russia is the top wheat exporter with a share of almost 16 percent of the global market, while Ukraine is the third-largest exporter of wheat at almost 10 percent of the global market. Importantly, for a number of countries with high levels of hunger, Ukraine and Russia have an outsized impact, as they import a significant share of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia.
The most important problem, however, is affordable access to food, not its availability. Many people in low-income countries (including Nigeria) cannot afford the prices of goods like bread which, in many countries, is made from imported wheat. The reason? Supply chain disruptions and climate-driven disasters, like drought, coupled with conflict, have driven prices up when wages have been unable to keep pace.
Before Ukraine crisis:
• The UN estimated that food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa was 30-40% higher than the rest of the world (taking into account comparative levels of GDP per capita).
• One in five people (282m) were under-nourished, and 93 million in 36 African countries were suffering extreme levels of hunger (women and children being hardest hit).
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, one in three children under five is stunted by chronic undernutrition; and two out of five women of childbearing age are anaemic because of poor diets.
• In West Africa, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance could rise to 35.7 million during the lean season from June to August 2022.
What needs to be done:
In the short-term, donor governments must bridge the gap between what people can pay and higher prices, and deliver much-needed aid to people facing severe hunger who will be even more impacted by the rise in food prices.
In the long-term, governments must support the development of sustainable, resilient, and local food systems, based on small-scale production and family farming that would form the very foundation of people’s food security. The current crisis underscores the urgency and importance of this.
“Nigeria needs a food system that works for everybody. This means a food system that can stand against shocks such as the climate crisis and rapid food inflation on international food markets, and does not contribute to environmental destruction” said Oxfam International Country Director in Nigeria, Dr. Vincent Ahonsi
“Nigeria government needs to provide the public funding necessary to create fair, gender-just, and sustainable food systems, particularly focusing on agroecological production which is inherently less dependent on imports of feed and agricultural inputs, and more resilient to climate change impacts”.
“There is an urgent need for the government to implement universal and adequate social protection measures to support the people, ensuring that the poorest and most vulnerable people have social protection. Action should include unconditional cash or food transfer scheme which are widely rather than narrowly targeted, regular and predictable, and automatically triggered by price rises” said Dr. Ahonsi
Rita Abiodun | rita.abiodun@oxfam.org | + 08089721663
For more information about Oxfam and its work in Nigeria, visit www.nigeria.oxfam.org.