World organizations call for coordinated action to ensure food security

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, UN World Food Program and World Trade Organization have called for urgent, coordinated action to ensure food security and urged countries to avoid food or fertilizer export bans, Reuters reported.

In a joint statement, the heads of the four institutions warned that the Ukraine crisis is exacerbating existing pressures from the COVID-19 crisis , climate change and increased instability and conflict, threatening millions of people around the world.

Soaring prices for basic foodstuffs and supply shortages are adding to the pressure on households, they said. The threat is greatest in the poorest countries, but vulnerability is also growing rapidly in middle-income countries, which are home to the majority of the world's poor.

Experts have warned that worsening crises could heighten social tensions in many affected countries, especially those already fragile or affected by conflict.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President David Malpass, UN World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley, and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala issued a joint statement ahead of next week's IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings .

They said the rise in food prices was exacerbated by the sharp increase in the cost of natural gas, a key ingredient in nitrogen fertilizers, which could threaten food production in many countries.

“Rising fertilizer prices, along with a significant reduction in global supplies, have important implications for food production in most countries, including large producers and exporters that are heavily dependent on fertilizer imports,” they said.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also expressed her grave concern about the food security crisis during a speech at the Atlantic Council think tank, noting that more than 275 million people worldwide are facing severe food insecurity.

The Treasury spokeswoman said the meeting will bring together ministers from the major G7 and G20 economies, officials from the IMF, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as well as leading technical experts on food security and agriculture. “The event will draw attention to various aspects of the worsening food security crisis and will mobilize (international financial institutions) to speed up and deepen their response to help affected countries,” she said.

Yellen also noted that she will be meeting with other experts next week to discuss possible solutions and stressed the need for long-term investment to address vulnerabilities in food systems.

In their joint statement, the four leaders called on the international community to provide emergency food supplies to vulnerable countries, increase agricultural production and keep trade flows open.

For their part, they said they would step up their respective policies and financial support to help vulnerable countries and households and alleviate pressure on the balance of payments.

The experts also called on the international community to provide grants and other funds for immediate food supplies to help the poor and small farmers facing higher production costs.

It is important to keep trade open and avoid restrictive measures such as a ban on the export of food or fertilizer, they said, stressing the need to prevent any restrictions on humanitarian food purchases by the World Food Program.