Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi/Agencies
ISLAMABAD/UNITED NATIONS: As millions worldwide continue to face, leaders of five international humanitarian, banking, and trade organizations on Wednesday appealed for further urgent action to prevent the global nutrition and food crisis from worsening.
The heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and called for rescuing “hunger hotspots” and facilitating trade, among other measures.
They advised countries to balance urgent short-term interventions with longer-term resilience efforts in a joint statement.
Their third statement since July noted that “food inflation remained high in the wake of shocks from the COVID-19 epidemic, the climate catastrophe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, and rising interest rates.”
Across 79 countries, nearly 350 million people are acutely food insecure
Across 79 countries, nearly 350 million people are acutely food insecure, and undernourishment is rising. Global food supplies are predicted to reach a three-year low, worsening the situation.
Twenty-four nations have been identified as hunger hotspots, 16 of which are in Africa, where the need is particularly acute.
The leaders urged governments and donors to assist national efforts to address hotspot needs, share information, and improve disaster preparedness.
They stressed that WFP and FAO required funds urgently to meet the needs of the most vulnerable immediately.
According to a press statement from the UN, WFP, and partners reached a record number of individuals last year.
A record-breaking $14 billion contribution allowed the organization to provide food and nutrition assistance to more than 140 million people.
Additionally, FAO committed $1 billion to provide agricultural interventions to more than 40 million people living in rural regions.
A $30 billion food and security package from the World Bank was made available for a 15-month term concluding in July.
Additionally, money needs to be raised so that the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) can offer less developed nations concessional loans. Meanwhile, its brand-new Food Shock Window has helped Haiti, Malawi, Ukraine, and Guinea so far.
“Global food security can be improved if governments help both food producers and consumers in an intelligent and targeted manner, such as by improving the provision of public goods in ways that sustain farm productivity,” they claimed.
According to the statement, the World Bank has a $6 billion platform that supports farmers to access fertilizers and other critical supplies while helping private companies make longer-term investments.
They recommended that nations reform harmful subsidies and repurpose them for more specialized and effective initiatives to ensure global food security and the sustainability of agricultural systems.
The leaders stated that most of the world’s social protection reaction to inflation takes the form of subsidies, half of which are untargeted, ineffective, and expensive for already strapped governments.
“Support for countries to improve and implement comprehensive, implementable, and shock-responsive social protection measures should be scaled up.”
They also emphasized the necessity of reviewing and changing agricultural support.
While this increased from 2016 to 2018 to almost $639 billion annually, farmers only received 35 cents of every dollar spent.
“Action is currently underway to address underlying structural difficulties in social protection and the food and fertilizer markets,” they stated. However, greater coordinated action across these three crucial sectors is required to avoid a crisis that lasts for an extended period.
The leaders opened their statement by expressing their sincere condolences to the people of Syria and Turkey following this week’s tragic and devastating earthquakes.
The leaders said, “Our organizations are actively monitoring the situation, evaluating the disaster’s scope, and trying to deploy required support under each organization’s mandates and procedures.”
