Food insecurity and food markets in disarray

A little more than a decade ago, the world was faced with the Great Recession, a severe economic and financial crisis that reverberated through the global economy for nearly a decade.

While some countries had not yet fully recovered the financial crisis, a new global crisis, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, took a new toll on the global economy, resulting in lower economic growth, a sharp contraction in trade, and added challenges for global food security.

The COVID-19 crisis came on top of the food security challenges that were created by conflicts and climate; these three factors- known as the 3cs: covid, climate and conflict were significant enough to reverse the long-term downward trend in the number of undernourished people.

The already complex situation is aggravated by a fourth challenge - a fourth c: rising costs for food production. Higher prices for fuel and fertilizer are boosting food production costs, lifting food prices to new all-time highs.

The invasion of Ukraine added supply contraction and increasing distortions in the supply chain of staple foods, animal feed and fertilizers which has led to increased costs of production and higher food prices, presenting added challenges to global food security. These challenges give rise to a number of important questions, which this webinar will address:

• What is the current state of world food and fertilizer markets?
• How are different regions affected?
• What are the main challenges and how can they be addressed?
• What are the policy responses, in Europe and the world?

ZOOM:

https://slu-se.zoom.us/j/64640805907

Passcode: 338885

Panelists:

1. T. Haniotis (EU Commission, Brussels)
2. K. Karantininis (Coordinator, SLU, Sweden)
3. C. Kasimis (AUA, Athens, Greece)
4. J. Schmidhuber (FAO, Rome)