President Joe Biden said Thursday that there will be food shortages around the world because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said, “It will be real.” “Because both Russia and Ukraine were Europe’s breadbasket in terms of wheat, for example.”
Food security, along with general humanitarian assistance, has been one of the main topics of conversation in Biden’s trio of emergency meetings with the leaders of NATO, the European Union, and the Group of Seven nations. The Summits were called upon to deal with the invasion of Ukraine.
We are in the process of working with our European friends on what is required to help alleviate concerns about food shortages. We’ve also talked about a significant major US investment among other things in terms of providing for the need for humanitarian assistance, including food as we move forward.
Ukraine is a heavily agricultural country with winter wheat, spring barley and maize being its main crops.
Through the Feed the Future initiative, the United States will provide more than $11 billion over the next five years to address threats to food security and malnutrition around the world—with programming in many countries vulnerable to increases in food and fertilizer prices.
A senior management told reporters at a briefing Thursday that the Russian invasion “threatens global food security, particularly for vulnerable populations in the Middle East and Africa” where farms are being destroyed.
President Joe Biden has said there will be food shortages around the world because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Grain silos were reportedly attacked by Russia in Uman, Ukraine
The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) warned Thursday that the war in Ukraine is already leading to higher food prices and shortages of staple crops in parts of Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut off shipments from the two countries, which jointly account for about 25% of global wheat exports and 16% of world corn exports, sending up grain prices on international markets.
Russia is also one of the world’s largest suppliers of fertilizers – their prices actually skyrocketed last year, contributing to a 30% increase in global food prices and a related increase in global hunger levels.
The European Union on Wednesday proposed a $549 million aid package to help food producers in the 27-nation bloc cope with the economic impact of the war in Ukraine.
While the EU does not face immediate food shortages, the region is a net importer of certain commodities, including fodder crops from Ukraine. European farmers rely heavily on Russian fertilizers to grow their crops.
“This vulnerability, coupled with higher input costs, such as fertilizers and fossil energy, causes production challenges for farmers and risks raising food prices,” the commission said in its proposal.
The food aid is part of a larger humanitarian aid plan proposed by the Biden administration for the fallout from the Ukraine invasion.
The Biden administration announced Thursday that that includes the United States will accept up to 100,000 refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine.
It aims to help ease the financial crisis occurring in Eastern Europe, where nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled a country that has been bombarded in one of the largest refugee crises since World War II.
Refugees poured into Europe and some made their way to the southern border of the United States, trying to enter the country in this way.
In addition to welcoming more displaced people, the Biden administration also announced more than $1 billion in new funding for humanitarian aid.
The funding will provide food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance, according to the White House.
Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland wait for a US Customs and Border Protection agent before passing through a US entry checkpoint in Tijuana, Mexico.
Ukrainians fleeing Russian invasion attempt to enter US via southern border – Biden administration announces it will accept 100,000 refugees
TIJUANA, MEXICO – MARCH 22: A Ukrainian family who fled Kiev, Ukraine, waits with their luggage before being allowed to cross the port of San Ysidro into the US to seek asylum
Ukrainians rest at the exhibition hall, which has been turned into a refugee center in Nadarzyn, near Warsaw, Poland — nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country
Refugees from Ukraine line up to wait for more transport at the Medica border crossing, after crossing the Ukraine-Polish border.
President Biden will speak about the refugee situation on Saturday during his visit to Poland.
Poland, which shares a 300-mile border with Ukraine, has taken in the majority of the refugees — some 2.1 million — but neighboring Romania and the hungry have also taken in many Ukrainians.
Biden has been criticized for not doing more to help ease the crisis. He vowed to help.
“I will welcome Ukrainian refugees,” he said from the White House on March 11.
As for the refugees, a senior administration official said the United States will focus on Ukrainians who already have families in America, and said they expect most Ukrainians will want to stay in Eastern Europe in the hope that they can return home.
“We are specifically working to expand and develop new programs with an emphasis on welcoming Ukrainians who have family members to the United States,” the official said on a media call with reporters.
“We continue to expect that most of the displaced Ukrainians, the citizens, will want to stay in neighboring countries or elsewhere in the EU, where they may have family and where there are already large diaspora communities with the hope that they will be able to return home soon,” the official added. .
In order to get around the 125,000 refugee cap, the United States would go through a whole range of legal pathways, including the US Refugee Admissions Program, and others would come up with family visas or another process known as humanitarian parole.
The exact details of how to bring the refugees to the states – legally and logistically – were not clear.
The department said efforts will also focus on particularly vulnerable groups such as women, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTQI+) people, and people with disabilities.
President Biden’s administration will also pledge $1 billion in financial assistance for humanitarian needs
A person from Ukraine shows papers to US Customs and Border Protection officials before being allowed to cross into the US border in Tijuana
A Ukrainian refugee child plays at the Humanitarian Aid Center at the Ptak Warsaw Expo in Nadarzyn, near Warsaw.
