All modern famines are man-made, usually the result of war, disease, and stupidity. Experts believe 2022 will be the year of a historic famine, causing a catastrophic food shortage.
The Ukraine War is affecting the output of the second-most significant breadbasket in the world. According to the Economist, Russia, Ukraine, and China together supply 28% of global wheat trade, 29% barley, and 75% sunflower oil.
Russia, Ukraine, and Egypt contribute about half of the cereals imports from Lebanon and Tunisia. Egypt and Libya are two-thirds. Russia has blocked Odesa from taking its waters in order to repel any attack from Ukraine.
The World Food Programme warned that 2022 would be a challenging year, even before the invasion.
The grain price has risen to an all-time high. India announced that it would not export wheat due to prolonged heatwaves.
People are at risk of starvation because of the rising cost of staple foods like wheat, sunflower oil, and barley.
This is unacceptable.
The crisis threatens to get worse. Ukraine had already shipped much of last summer’s crop before the war. Russia is still managing to sell its grain, despite added costs and risks for shippers. However, those Ukrainian silos that are undamaged by the fighting are full of corn and barley. Farmers have nowhere to store their next harvest, due to starting in late June, which may therefore rot. And they lack the fuel and labor to plant the one after that. Russia, for its part, may lack some supplies of the seeds and pesticides it usually buys from the European Union.
But you have to believe that what happened with the COVID-19 vaccine would happen with food as well. There would be a lot of talks internationally about the “responsibility” of rich nations to feed the poorer ones. That may be true to a certain extent — but only after our own people are taken care of. We don’t elect presidents or members of Congress to starve our own people so that leftists can feel good about themselves by giving away the product of American agricultural genius.
Sharing scarcity is impossible. Do you want to see food riots in America? Give away food during times of crisis.
