Surging natural gas prices is forcing fertilizer manufacturers to close factories because production of the agricultural commodity has become unprofitable. That could stoke famine across Africa, Asia and South America.
This will make these regions even less resilient to global heating, floods, storms and droughts.
Reasons Magazine: Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, food prices were spiking around the world because of supply chain disruptions. A combination of always unpredictable nature, bad policy, and busted supply chains (also largely from policy decisions) hiked the cost of fertilizer for farmers. That threatened agricultural output even as pandemic-era economic disruptions impoverished many people. Now, war further threatens the cultivation of grain and the ability to put affordable meals on many tables. A year that already looked hungry may prove grimmer than expected.
“In a year when the world is already facing an unprecedented level of hunger, it’s just tragic to see hunger raising its head in what has long been the breadbasket of Europe,” David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, commented last week. “The bullets and bombs in Ukraine could take the global hunger crisis to levels beyond anything we’ve seen before.”
