Africa to experience sharp food price increases this month if war in Ukraine goes on - report
JOHANNESBURG - If the war in Ukraine goes well into May, food prices would likely increase by about 17 percent with the sharpest hike expected in East, West, and Southern Africa, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its latest report.
The situation was already precarious before the war since poverty rates, climate change, Covid-19, and conflicts such as insurgencies in several countries resulted in healthy diets being out of reach for many.
According to the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in 2020, "... approximately 323.2 million people in Africa, or 29.5 percent of the population, ran out of food or went without eating that year."
Drawing lessons from the last global pandemic, Covid-19, that saw vaccine
inequalities with Africa as disadvantaged, the world should come up with an international model for food distribution.
HRW said: Food exporting governments should carefully balance export restrictions to protect the right to food domestically while minimising to the extent possible impacts on food supply and prices for oth
er countries.
There are also fears that if the war rages on, exporting countries would hold on to their stocks, resulting in food riots in importing countries.
"The World Trade Organisation ( WTO) estimates that 40 percent of the increase in global wheat prices during the 2011 food crisis resulted from hoarding.
"Importing governments should work to ensure that nutritious food is affordable and accessible to everyone," the HRW said.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says by 2020, eight out of 10 Africans were not covered by any form of social protection.