French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the EU must recognize the prospect that a war in Ukraine could lead to a global food crisis. This was reported by Politico.
Ukraine and Russia are giant grain exporters, and half of Africa's wheat imports come from these two countries, while global food prices have already risen as a result of the war. Ukraine's food exports have all but stopped, and the ability to grow and harvest this year's crop is threatened by the war.
"We have to deal quickly with this new situation," Le Drian said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
"It's not sanctions that undermine global food security, it's the war, because there are no sanctions on food. This war is becoming problematic, and tomorrow it will bring with it the risk of starvation. We see the consequences of the war, the inability to harvest, to sow, to export," he added, referring to Ukraine.
EU agriculture ministers are meeting Monday to agree on their responses to the crisis, and the European Commission is holding a major humanitarian conference this week that will also focus on food security.
