Senegalese Minister of Economy, Planning and International Cooperation Amadou Hott warned that the food security crisis could kill more people than the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Hott issued this warning at the Group of 20 meeting of global financial leaders in Bali, Indonesia. He added that the dual crisis of food shortages and high food inflation needs to be addressed immediately. (Related: Farmers all over the world are BEING THREATENED by Deep State-controlled governments and corporations.)
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, more than 1,000 people were dying every day. More than 250,000 people in the continent have already died due to the coronavirus.
A lot of the recent concerns regarding food security are coming from the disappearance of Russian and Ukrainian food products from the global market.
Due to Western sanctions against Russia, many countries and corporations are boycotting Russian goods, including food products, even though staples like food and fertilizers are exempt from sanctions. These companies are worried about backlash if they engage even in permitted trade with Russia. Hott warned that this will be disastrous for the global food supply.
"We understand that food and fertilizers are exempt from sanctions. However, the market participants, whether it's traders, or the banks, or the insurers, are reluctant to participate if the products are coming from certain locations because they're afraid to be sanctioned in the future," said Hott.
"Is it possible to say, whether you're buying fertilizer, food from Russia or from Ukraine or from wherever around the world, there will be no sanctions today, no sanctions tomorrow … so that we can stabilize the market?" added Hott. "We are not responsible for this crisis, but we [Africans] are suffering."
Food issues in Africa to be made worse by current crisis
Food insecurity, inflation and shortages were already severe issues in Africa well before the war. Africans make up one-third of the people around the world suffering from malnutrition.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the biggest exporters of food staples like wheat, and the war and the economic sanctions that followed have worsened problems all over Africa. Hott warned that the longer the crisis continues, the more Africans will suffer from malnutrition and starvation.
"Amid intense competition for food and key inputs like fertilizer, there is a risk that supplies may be diverted away from poorer countries to richer ones," warned World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
"We need to employ all of our capacity against trade restrictions, raise our collective voice that it is not only immoral but harmful if food doesn't get to where it must," said International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. "We want to see the international supply of food increase including negotiations to get the grains out of Ukraine to where it is needed, and we need to support food production, storage and distribution."
Hott wants to see countries come together and invest in global food supplies before the current crisis becomes unmanageable and famine spreads throughout Africa.
"Like during COVID times, the world came together and made extraordinary decisions in the shortest period of time," said Hott. "All the partners changed procedures and policies to really meet the challenge. Like the IMF, the World Bank, the ADB, everybody changed their policies to help the countries."
"This time, it is the same," he added. "If we don't get fast, we'll have more casualties than during COVID times."
Worse, it will cost governments more money to buy food and supplies, said Hott. These same nations will also fall deeper into debt due to the need to borrow money to provide crucial support for their populations.
Learn more about the global food crisis at FoodCollapse.com.
Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report" as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, discusses how the global food collapse is making people desperate enough to resort to violence just to obtain food.
This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.
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