The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned of the likelihood of a global food crisis in its report, the Vedomosti newspaper reports.
The organization noticed that the average annual number of disasters has become more than three times higher than 30-50 years ago. We are talking about wildfires, extreme weather events, pests and other disasters. Agriculture accounts for about 63 percent of the damage.
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated already devastating systemic risks to the global food system, they noted. However, according to Georgy Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Business Studies at the Higher School of Economics, the UN constantly makes such statements. “Thus, they knock out money from developed countries for the poorest countries,” he explained.
Similar statements were made at the UN earlier. They warned that people living in poor countries are at risk of facing food shortages due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
World prices for food and raw materials in 2020 have broken a record for the past three years. The index rose in December last year to 107.5 points, or 2.2 percent compared to November, when it was recorded the highest level of the index in almost six years. Experts do not associate the rise in food prices solely with the pandemic, which mainly led to some disruptions and delays in supplies. According to experts, price dynamics depends on the ratio of supply and demand.
