The trifecta of COVID-19, the Ukraine-Russia conflict and climate change is accelerating an impending food crisis. As world leaders are seeking to address the global food shortage via economic protectionism and sourcing alternative ways to recover, this month’s edition of ‘From the Hill’ explores the repercussions of the reactionary efforts toward the increased food safety concerns and how they may impact the way countries emerge from an already pandemic-stricken economy.
Feature Topic
Can the world spend its way out of the current global food crisis?
Ahead of the 48th G7 Summit, the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia grows ever more fervent, with its impact being felt across regions worldwide. To deal with global supply disruptions, and to safeguard domestic interests and requirements, several Asian nations have imposed trade restrictions on major food items such as wheat, sugar, palm oil and poultry.
While import/export bans are largely viewed as protectionist measures to safeguard local population interests, these often have – aside from having politically nationalistic undertones – a marginal impact owing to today’s interconnected global trade channels, especially if alternative suppliers are to be found. Such measures may even instead cause a domino domestic effect, leading to deeper economic insecurities that impact local populations even more. Sri Lanka, for instance, is offering a preview of how internal factors are just as instrumental as external ones in pushing a nation into a deep crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict may have exacerbated the island nation’s problems, but they have been rooted in domestic issues that date as far back as 2015.
What is worrying is that Sri Lanka’s problems were being emulated across the region, as countries such as India and Malaysia sought to safeguard domestic food security by imposing trade restrictions. Many of them are just emerging from the pandemic but were soon faced with the unexpected external turmoil in regions far removed from them, in addition to worsening climate change affecting food crop yields.
However – not least due to criticisms from major trading partners – countries are revising restrictions, and are urging for international cooperation. At this critical juncture, countries such as Thailand are swooping in to supplement the global food supply. Yet, due to the current uncertain state of the world, forward-looking efforts are also being done to mitigate future shocks. This includes collaborative innovation in areas like AgriTech, especially with climate change exacerbating extreme weather conditions and soil erosion, which may be a more serious, long-term problem than current global headwinds.
Political leaders must now grapple with a world that is far more interdependent than ever before. Hence, major food suppliers can no longer rely on mercantilism to protect only domestic interests. It has a detrimental impact on at-risk or vulnerable populations in poorer countries, which may then hamper those countries’ capacities to produce and exports good they specialise in for the global market, which countries imposing those bans may actually benefit from. Countries can no longer just turtle down and weather the economic storm and as such, policy development during this trying time – whether domestically or internationally focused – will inevitably reverberate.
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Long Reads
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Graph of the Month
For Your Eyes and Ears
Video
How serious is the world food crisis? | The Hindu
Source: The Hindu
Podcast
Why is the World facing a Food Crisis? | The Development Podcast
Source: World Bank
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