Ukraine war: Can India feed the world?
Image credit: Daily Times
Following supply shocks and rising prices caused by the crisis in Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US President Joe Biden last week that India was ready to transport food to the rest of the world.
Mr Modi said that India has “enough food” to feed its 1.4 billion people and that it is “ready to deliver food supplies to the globe from tomorrow” if the World Trade Organization (WTO) permits it.
Prior to the Ukraine conflict, commodities prices were already at a 10-year high due to global harvest concerns. Food prices have grown considerably during the war, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s (UNFAO) food-price index, and are presently at their highest level since 1990.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s largest wheat exporters, accounting for roughly a third of yearly wheat sales worldwide.
Furthermore, the two countries export 55 per cent of the world’s sunflower oil and 17 per cent of the world’s corn and barley. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, they aim to export 14 million tonnes of wheat and more than 16 million tonnes of maize this year.
India is the world’s second-largest rice and wheat producer. As of early April, it has 74 million tonnes of the two staples on hand. The strategic reserve and the public distribution system (PDS), which delivers low-cost food to over 700 million people, have each been allocated 21 million tonnes.
With rice exports to around 150 countries and wheat exports to 68, India is also one of the world’s cheapest global wheat and rice providers. It aims to export 7 million tonnes of wheat in 2020–2021.
The Russian invasion is projected to have “serious repercussions” for global food security, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). According to the UNFAO, a persistent disruption in wheat, fertiliser, and other commodity exports from Russia and Ukraine could push the global undernutrition rate up to thirteen million people.
If India’s politicians know anything, it’s that food – or the lack thereof – determines their fate. Rising onion prices have previously pushed state and federal administrations to their knees.
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