Conflicts, climate, Covid-19, now rising food prices: The World Food Program assumes that 270 million people will starve or are at great risk from it in 2021.
Rome - The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warns of food shortages for millions of people over rising food prices.
“We already have conflict, climate and Covid-19 working together to drive more people into hunger and misery.
Now food prices have joined the deadly trio, ”said the organization's chief economist, Arif Husain, in Rome on Thursday.
The WFP sees a danger in the economic effects of the corona pandemic, as a result of which many people lost their jobs and thus their income.
In addition, climate phenomena such as La Niña and conflicts, in addition to increased prices, affected people and their access to food.
Looking at the regions, the WFP experts recorded the largest rise in food prices in the Middle East. In Syria, according to the WFP market monitor, the average price for edible oil rose by 58 percent in the months from March to May compared to the three previous months. In Lebanon, where there is a severe economic crisis, the average price of wheat flour rose by 50 percent for the same period. Food prices also rose in Africa, for example in Zimbabwe or Mozambique, and in South America, for example in Venezuela.
The WFP assumes that 270 million people will be acutely hungry or at great risk from it in 2021. That would correspond to an increase of 40 percent compared to the previous year. For the Nobel Peace Prize winners, the aid operation this year is the largest in the history of the organization, with which the aid workers want to reach 139 million people worldwide. dpa