On global food security in the context of unilateral coercive measures

Ensuring food security, eradicating hunger, promoting sustainable agricultural development and enhancing its productive capacity are becoming particularly relevant today.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that about 690 million people, or 8.9% of the world's population, suffer from hunger, representing an increase of 10 million in one year and nearly 60 million in five years.

A similar upward trend is observed in the rate of prevalence of severe food insecurity, which also reflects the extent of hunger. Three billion people – nearly 40% of the world's population – do not have access to adequate nutrition.

The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have aggravated the already difficult situation in the food sector – an additional 140 million people faced food shortages.

This threatens the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The world is behind schedule in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 “Zero Hunger”. If those trends continue, the number of people suffering from hunger will exceed 840 million by 2030.

According to FAO, in September 2021, the average value of the FAO Food Price Index was 130.0 points. This is 32.8% higher than in September last year. The increase of the Index value in September was attributable primarily to an increase in prices for most cereals and vegetable oils. According to the FAO forecast, despite reaching a historical maximum, the volume of cereals production in the world in 2021 will be below the level of consumption.

According to UN agencies' estimates released on October 4, 2021, the world is currently facing an unprecedented catastrophic level of food insecurity. About 6.6 billion US dollars are urgently needed to support 41 million people at risk of hunger.

Belarus has always made a significant contribution to ensuring global food security. Our country exports agriculture and food products to more than 100 countries of the world. However, the thoughtless sanctions pressure of Western countries on Belarus endangers not even our country, but global food security. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, results of the sanctions policy acquire far from bright prospects in the field of development and the fight against hunger in the world.

A direct interconnection exists between the European Union and other countries sectoral sanctions against the potash industry of Belarus, enhanced worldwide food insecurity risks and the threat of the food crisis. Obviously, taking into account the share of Belarus in the world market of potash fertilizers (20%), the export ban will lead (and is already leading) to an increase in the prices of both fertilizers and food products, contributing to an increase in the number of hungry people on the planet. And these are not only our assessments. The UN, FAO and a number of international companies and associations in the sphere of potash fertilizers and food trade made similar conclusions. This raises a question: do the countries which impose sanctions against the potash industry of Belarus give themselves an account of the real threat to the whole world, or prefer not to notice this threat to achieve some ephemeral goals by increasing the sanctions pressure on Belarus?

The UN Secretary-General convened a Food Systems Summit on the margins of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in September this year, following which states pledged to continue efforts to eradicate hunger and make healthy food more affordable. At the same time, it was noted that solving the problem of hunger is impossible without providing agricultural producers with access to fertilizers in the required amount and affordable prices.

In the spirit of the World Food Security Summit Declaration, Belarus calls for abandoning the use of sanctions. These sanctions not only contradict international obligations, including within the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, but also contravene the provisions of the UN Charter and UN General Assembly resolutions on unilateral coercive measures.

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