SPECIAL FEATURE


PHOTO: IFAD/Baudoin Mouanda


OPEC Fund Quarterly: What is the current outlook for global food security? Satu Santala: The global food security situation is really worrying and steadily deteriorating. It has been a concern for the last few years. The latest global data shows that in 2020 up to 811 million people went hungry compared to 650 million in 2019. This means that one in 10 people in the world is hungry. Africa has the sharpest rise in hunger. Here over 20 percent of the population – one in five people! – don't have enough to eat. In addition, more than 2.3 billion people – nearly one third of the global population – don't have all- year safe access to adequate food.


OFQ: What are the reasons for this grim outlook? SS: The reasons for these negative developments are increases in armed conflicts, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Extreme weather events such as droughts and heat waves hit key growing areas in Latin America and the Horn of Africa, causing a surge in food prices in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. The Horn of Africa is threatened by famine due to three consecutive failed rainy seasons, alarmingly reducing the food supply. Forecasts suggest that the below average rainfall will worsen in the coming months. This is a very, very critical situation.


Conflict and hunger are closely


intertwined. When one escalates, the other usually follows. We are monitoring the war in Ukraine with a heavy heart and deplore the loss of life and human suffering. IFAD joins the call of the UN Secretary-General to end military operations in Ukraine, restore peace and protect human rights. We are very concerned that an extended conflict in Ukraine could limit the world’s supply of staple crops like wheat, corn and sunflower oil, resulting in the skyrocketing of food prices and hunger. Ukraine and Russia are large


exporters of grain and fertilizers. The Middle East and Africa are already hit


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