(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Elected officials have started claiming that the Russo-Ukrainian War, combined with international sanctions, could cause global “famine” and “starvation,” as grocery store shelves continue to thin and inflation continues to soar.
Russia and Ukraine produce about a third of the world’s barley and wheat supply, and about 15 percent of the world’s total calories come from wheat.
In a Fox Business interview, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the world faces “impending famine,” TruthBasedMedia reported.
“About 40 to 45 percent of the production in Ukraine will be decreased this year because of the war and the scarcity of supplies that go into the planting season,” she said. “And we know that Ukraine also supports about 400 million people around the world with its food products.”
In Ukraine, the time to plant wheat begins in early April, but farmers cannot plant on much of the land due to the war and steep increases in fertilizer costs.
“And I’ve heard from David Beasley at the World Food Bank that he’s now going to have to take from the hungry to feed the starving,” Ernst added.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said millions of people could start “dying of starvation,” but he did not discuss the central issue: the need for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine.
“Democrats and Republicans in Congress need to quickly come together and approve emergency global food aid in order to prevent tens of millions of people, including millions of children, from dying of starvation,” Booker told Reuters.
President Joe Biden added to the fear by stating that food shortages are “going to be real.”
Citizens of poor nations will starve first, while rich nations will bid up the price of food.
“…in the Horn of Africa 13 million people are already suffering from hunger,” ReliefWeb reported. “Ethiopia imports around 40 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine, Kenya 30 percent, and Somalia over 90 percent.”
