Rome/New York, July 24 – Globally, more than 3 billion people cannot afford healthy diets, 2 billion are overweight or obese and 462 million are underweight, and the situation is made worse with the cancellation of the Black Sea grain deal after Russia pulled out of the agreement.

Developing countries are struggling to invest in the food systems that can provide healthy lives but they have had no access to financing and debt relief, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an address to the U.N. Food Systems Summit taking place in Rome.

“Many communities are one shock away from plummeting into food insecurity or even famine,” he said. “And that dire picture has grown bleaker with the Russian Federation’s termination of the Black Sea Initiative that enabled the safe export of more than 32 million metric tons of food on more than 1,000 vessels from Ukrainian ports.”

 The initiative, which the U.N. called the “beacon of hope in a troubled world,” started in July 2022 and was terminated after Russia ended its participation on July 17 this year. It allowed the exports of Ukraine’s wheat and other food commodities and Russia’s fertilizers to dozens of countries. The U.N. said food prices dropped by 23 per cent from their highs in 2022.

The grain deal allowed humanitarian organizations to provide food assistance to countries. The World Food Program (WFP) transported more than 725,000 tons of wheat to people in need in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Ukraine supplied more than half of WFP’s wheat grain in 2022, as was the case in 2021.

“We are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone” with the end of the initiative, Guterres said. “But this is especially devastating for vulnerable countries struggling to feed their people.”

“Meanwhile, unsustainable food production, packaging and consumption are feeding the climate crisis, generating one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, using 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater, and driving biodiversity loss on an epic scale. Many communities are one shock away from plummeting into food insecurity or even famine.”

The U.N. Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment, hosted by the Italian government July 24-26, is taking place at the Food and Agriculture Organization premises with the attendance of U.N. agencies, government, business and civil society representatives.

For more information, see the UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking moment

Guterres said more than 100 countries have submitted voluntary progress reports on food systems transformation after taking “decisive steps to reflect this priority in national and sub- national laws, policies and programming.” He called for “massive investment in sustainable, equitable, healthy and resilient food systems” and urged governments to provide at least US$500 billion a year to the Sustainable Development Goals Stimulus for long-term financing for all countries in need.

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