U.S. to Assists Ukrainian Agriculture Back into Marketplace to Ease Food Crisis

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda-Thomas Greenfield, said on the 16th that the United States supports the motion brought up by the United Nations Secretary-General Guterres regarding the return of Ukrainian grain to the international market.
After visiting Moscow and Kyiv last month, Guterres said he was determined to bring Ukrainian agricultural products, as well as grain and fertilizer products in Russia and Belarus, back to the international market, despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. According to media reports, Guterres has asked Russia to allow some grain exports from Ukraine in exchange for the United Nations to help facilitate the export of potash by Russia and Belarus.
According to reports, nearly one-third of the global wheat market supply is sourced from Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine is also one of the largest exporters of corn, barley, sunflower oil, and canola oil, while Russia and Belarus export more than 40% of the potash required for global crops.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from February 24, global prices for grains, cooking oil, fuel, and fertilizers have kept soaring, leading Guterres to repeatedly warn that it will exacerbate the food crisis in underprivileged countries.
Furthermore, the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has disrupted maritime passage in the Black Sea, resulting in limited exports from Ukraine and Russia. According to the agriculture ministry of Ukraine, grain exports have more than halved from a year earlier in May.*The head of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, warned the United Nations Security Council in March that since 50 percent of the grain procured by WFP comes from Ukraine, the Russo-Ukraine war will pose a threat to the food security of 125 million people worldwide.Notably, the United Nations’ Children’s Agency also issued a similar warning on May 17 that the cost of treating severely malnourished children would rise by 16% due to the impact of the war. Combined with skyrocketing cost of raw materials for specialty nutrition, about 600,000 children could be directly in mortal danger without further funding in the next six months, as well as more children could suffer catastrophic severe malnutrition.