price of   wheat; was up 70%. FAO predicts an increase in 13 million people  additional famine victims. But the rise in prices had begun; long before the  supply problems engendered by the conflict. Food prices were already down. pushed to the rise by the speculation of food traders and the search for  profits on the financial markets. The panic in world food markets, caused  by the conflict between two of the ,  highlighted the enormous fragility of of the global food system. Today, at least 20  countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for half" of their wheat imports. In Africa  from the East, wheat has become a staple foode, despite the fact that it is not cultivated in the area.  84% grains consumed there are imported, mainly from Russia and Ukraine.

A fragile food system built on a neoliberal doctrine

The current industrial food system is driving multiple crises: climate crisis,  food, environmental and health public. Global production chains are  also very vulnerable to these shocks. Powered by an industrial model of production  food, they are highly dependent on fossil fuels and chemical inputs and are  dominated by a very small number of companies. This means that commodity prices food follows rising energy prices, while intensive food production  contributes to greenhouse gas emissions; greenhouse effect and the destruction of the environment.

À As the climate crisis intensifies, there is an increase in the frequency of  extreme weather phenomena such as droughts, floods and  the heat waves that hit the Horn of Africa, Pakistan and Europe this year. These  phenomena drive vulnerable people even deeper into poverty; and  hunger, while affecting the ability from small producers to; feed their communities through the future.  Ongoing conflicts, wars and occupations are among the major drivers of hunger. in the world. These conflicts often relate to resource extraction or land and are  further aggravated by climate change.

Furthermore, years of neoliberal doctrine and policies (structural adjustment, conditional loans, financial sector deregulation and free trade agreements ;change) resulted in; this  that many countries, which were previously self-sufficient in food, are  now dependent on imports. The escalation of contingent debt for the countries of  South, such as the Sri Lanka, deprived them of their ability to to provide public funds to address rising food prices, healthcare costs, energy poverty or climate impacts . 

Hunger and food crisis are a structural shame

The hunger was already there. widespread even before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to  FAO, between 702 and 828 million of people have been impacted by hunger in 2021. In 2020, more  2 billion people did not have sufficient access to the food. The pandemic of  Covid-19 plunged; 150 million more people going hungry. 

These persistent and shocking levels of starvation and malnutrition highlight the problems  structural features of the current industrial food system. The problem is not a production  inadequate food, but a blind obsession with issues of productivity, profits and globalized markets as a means of providing food, rather than se  focus on making the Human right to food and peoples' rights. 

dominated by a handful of companies,  which have a huge influence on markets but also on research and policy  public. The “ four large » grain traders - the « Archer Daniels Midland »,  « Bunge », « Cargill » and “ Louis Dreyfus » - have declared; in 2021 highest profits  never recorded in their history. The global wealth of corporations and billionaires in the  food sector has increased by 45% in 2021/22, to reach $382 billions. The  multinationals have made food a financial commodity, with which they speculate  and get rich beyond measure.

Meanwhile, small-scale producers are facing increasing repression and threats to their livelihoods. Agribusinesses are using the food crisis to pressure in order to obtain more subsidies and circumvent or cancel existing regulations. Under the guise of “providing responses to the crisis”, they can grab land and resources from peasants, indigenous peoples and family farmers into monoculture tree plantations or intensive farming, for example.

Yet this « Peasant Food Network » provides food to; more than 70% of the population  world. They produce more sustainably, using less than 25% of resources. (land, water, fuels).

Our call for a change of system to achieve sovereignty food

gardens  urban communities in Malaysia up to indigenous seed networks in Uruguay. In countries like Togo, the Salvador and the Philippines local agroecological food systems and short supply chains have shown resilience and innovation during the COVID 19 pandemic

 food is possible. It requires adequate public policies in order to reduce the  dependence on food imports and boosting national food systems, by  particularly in the countries of the South. This means ensuring social and economic justice, through  cancellation of debt, ending free trade agreements and abrogating agreements  unfair investments. This means dismantle the stranglehold and power of  multinational. 

There is also a need to invest in institutions and public policies to support the right to food and agroecology while guaranteeing the rights of peoples to control their territories - land, water and seeds. This means valuing knowledge and markets. s as well as nurturing social relations based on justice and solidarity. patriarchy, racism, colonialism and class - and to recognize the fundamental role women play in food production. Finally, it means supporting those who feed the world to protect biodiversity, reduce emissions and fight destructive industrial agriculture.

"This article originally appeared on Friends of the Earth International's website and has been posted here with permission."

Photo: "A farmer in Mozambique. Photo by Amelia Collins, Friends of the Earth International".