World Food Programme warns war in Ukraine could lead to global hunger crisis

LVIV, UKRAINE (WCBD) – Former South Carolina governor and director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, is warning that the lasting impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine could be severe and far-reaching when it comes to the global food supply.

On March 14, Beasley himself made the journey to Lviv. He was one of the first UN representatives to do so. In a video taken just before his arrival, he said that the WFP is “rapidly scaling up operations” in Ukraine and the surrounding countries to which millions of Ukrainian refugees are fleeing.

While the immediate needs of those directly impacted by the war are top of mind for the WFP now, Beasley worries about the global reverberations the war could cause in the near future.

Beasley explained that Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of the world; it produces enough wheat to feed over 400 million people each year, according to Beasley. He said that half of the food distributed by the WFP comes from Ukraine.

But as Russia obliterates the country, “farmers are on the front lines and farmland has been turned into battlefields.” WFP volunteers are now on the ground in the country from which they once sourced food to feed the hungry hundreds of miles away, passing out rations in subway stations converted into bomb shelters.

Beasley pointed out that the crisis in Europe has the potential to wreak havoc on the global supply chain, particularly in the corners of the world most stricken by poverty.

“It’s not just the people inside Ukraine that [will] be impacted now. Because of a disruption of the supply chain in the breadbasket of the world, the entire world is going to pay a price. Food prices are now spiking, fuel prices, shipping costs… We’re gonna see many people paying a price all over the world.”

David Beasley, WFP Executive Director

He told BBC World News that if the war wages on even for six months, the impacts could be catastrophic, saying “you thought the Arab Spring was tough? We’re seeing conditions much worse than the Arab Spring in 2012.”

Beasely estimated that it will cost the WFP an additional $70 million per month to continue operations.

“The longer we go without peace,” he said, “the longer millions go without food.”