On March 11, the G7 Agriculture Ministers and the Commissioner for Agriculture of the EU met with their Ukrainian colleague, as well as the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).
They released the following statement in support of Ukrainian farmers and ag sector:
“We are all appalled by and condemn the large-scale aggression by the Russian Federation against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, enabled by the Belarusian Government.
“We strive to provide national, bilateral and international support to help facilitate harvests in Ukraine and ensure the ability of Ukrainian farmers to feed their population and to contribute to global food security. We call on international organisations to support food production in Ukraine during this crisis and ensure food security in affected areas. We remain determined to do what is necessary to prevent and respond to a food crisis, including with humanitarian aid, and stand ready to act as needed to address potential disruptions.”
The organisations report the impacts on food security and the rising number of people suffering from hunger and all forms of malnutrition will only increase the suffering in the region and put pressure on food security globally.
“We deeply condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine. As Ministers of Agriculture, we are greatly alarmed by the targeting of critical agricultural infrastructure, including transportation and storage, which is having significant regional impacts. Given Ukraine is the fourth largest supplier of wheat and produces half of the world’s sunflower oil exports, this will additionally have global impacts on food systems and food insecurity.
“We commit to cooperating closely and taking concrete actions to safeguard global food security and nutrition, especially supporting food security for the people of Ukraine. We reaffirm the importance of working together to maintain the flow of food, products, seasonal labour and inputs essential for agricultural and food production across borders in line with all measures adopted in response to the current situation. Moreover, we will work together to address transportation challenges for food exports and commodity production.”
The members call on all countries to keep their food and agricultural markets open and to guard against any unjustified restrictive measures on their exports. Any further increase in food price levels and volatility in international markets could threaten food security and nutrition at a global scale, especially among the most vulnerable living in environments of low food security.
“We stand united with our partners and with the government and people of Ukraine during this crisis,” they say. “We will continue our close cooperation to respond to the impacts of the war, including on agricultural and food trade, food security and nutrition.”
