EDITORIAL FOOD:
GLOBAL ANSWERS TO A GLOBAL CRISIS
Dear reader,
When we set out to plan the 2022 issues of the OPEC Fund Quarterly our team overwhelmingly felt that the climate agenda would be the world’s main concern this year as the COVID-19 pandemic would gradually be overcome. So our idea was to look into different sectors through the magnifying glass of the climate agenda, and we decided to start with agriculture. Little did we know that we had just
picked a subject that would become an urgent global concern. With the war in Ukraine major international food and fertilizer supplies have suffered massive and perhaps long-term disruptions. The consequences are already being felt in the form of shortages and price hikes, and nowhere will they be more serious than in many OPEC Fund partner countries. This was clearly pointed out by
World Bank President David Malpass who recently warned against a “human catastrophe” from a food crisis arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He told the BBC that record rises in food prices would push hundreds of millions people into poverty and lower nutrition, if the crisis continues. The dependence on supplies from
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Ukraine and Russia is indeed startling, as we are able to show in one of our stories in this issue: Until recently the two countries were among the world’s biggest producers of agricultural commodities, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Ukraine was among the top three global exporters of maize, rapeseed, wheat, sunflower oil and sunflower seeds. To name just one example from the side of importers: Last year, Eritrea received 100 percent of its wheat supplies from Ukraine and Russia. This is a serious and urgent crisis and the international community faces an unprecedented challenge. Taking a longer-term view, Ukraine’s potential as a leading agricultural nation remains intact. As our guest contributor Gilles Mettetal, today an international advisor and formerly Director for Agribusiness at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), points out in his article this is not only due to favorable natural conditions like a uniquely fertile soil, but also the strong entrepreneurial tradition in the sector. Ukraine has rebuilt its agriculture after 70 years of Soviet communism, and will again be able to do so, Mr. Mettetal argues.
But agriculture is of course also a core
concern of the OPEC Fund, and to date we have committed US$2.6 billion in the sector globally. As Anajulia Taylhardat, Director of Coordination and Planning for Public Sector Operations, and Omar Al-Khadi, Senior Country Manager, West and Central Africa, explain the OPEC Fund’s engagement has evolved over the years from traditional financing at the grassroots to international partnerships. This effect has allowed the OPEC Fund to significantly deepen its impact. A major and long-standing partner in this endeavor is the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) whose Associate Vice President Satu Santala tells us in an interview about her concerns about the present situation. She echoes President Malpass' warning that hunger remains a reality in today’s world and the delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger is in acute danger following first the COVID-19 pandemic and now the global impact of the war in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Associate Vice President Santala also says: “You can’t be in this line of work if you’re not optimistic”. And as we are also able to demonstrate in this issue there are reasons to remain
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