FAO puts forward proposals to address current and future food shortages

Russia and Ukraine are important players in global commodity markets, and the uncertainty surrounding the conflict has caused prices surges

The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) called on G7 nations to help anticipate future food shortages, as the war in Ukraine squeezes supplies, pushes prices to record highs and threatens already vulnerable nations across Africa and Asia.

“We need to actively identify ways to make up for potential future gaps in global markets, working together to foster sustainable productivity increases where possible,” Director-General Qu Dongyu told G7 Agriculture Ministers meeting in Stuttgart, Germany.

Qu was invited by the German presidency of the G7 to discuss the consequences of the conflict in eastern Europe on global food security.

According to FAO, market transparency is crucial. That is why FAO welcomes every effort to strengthen and expand the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), an inter-agency platform designed to enhance food market transparency launched in 2011 by G20 Agriculture Ministers following the global food price hikes in 2007/08 and 2010. AMIS is hosted by FAO.

FAO has also proposed a global Food Import Financing Facility to help nations deal with rising food prices. The mechanism, which is strictly based on needs and limited to low and lower middle-income, net food-importing countries and selected beneficiaries of the International Development Association, could benefit almost 1.8 billion people in the world’s 61 most vulnerable countries.

The facility has been designed to include smart conditionality to act as an automatic stabilizer for future funding. Eligible countries will commit to added investments in agriculture, thus reducing future import needs.

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