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A food supply expert warns the world faces a global crisis in just 10 weeks, echoing a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Russia has blocked almost all ports and, so to speak, all maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflowers and more. Lots of things,” said Zelenskyy on Saturday. “There will be a crisis in the world. The second crisis after the energy crisis provoked by Russia.”
“Now there will be a food crisis if we don’t open the routes to Ukraine and help the countries of Africa, Europe and Asia that need this food,” he added.
Zelenskyy said that unless Ukraine regains control of the embattled southern ports, the world will face a difficult situation: The country produces a significant part of the world’s food supply, including between 25% and 30% of the world’s grain supply, along with Russia .
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According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Ukraine also accounts for 9.29% of the world corn supply.
Russia has currently blocked the ports of Odessa and Mariupol, and the two countries continue to argue about it.
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According to Sara Menker, CEO of Gro Intelligence, the world only has 10 weeks of wheat to overcome the crisis.
“This is seismic,” Menker said at a special session of the UN Security Council. “Even if the war were to end tomorrow, our food security problem will not go away anytime soon without concerted action.”
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Gro Intelligence uses artificial intelligence and public and private data to predict food supply trends. Menker stresses that the invasion of Russia did not create a food crisis, but “stoked up” what was already happening.
“Without aggressive global action, we risk an extraordinary amount of human suffering and economic damage,” said Menker.