On March 31 at 12:00 pm, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, titled “A World on the Edge of Hunger: How Can We Overcome the Current Food Crisis?”
The problem of food security is becoming more acute at the global level. Many medium-term forecasts are of an alarmist nature, and predict serious difficulties in the stable provision of food to entire countries and regions of the world. This, in turn, can lead to significant social consequences, including an increase in migration flows.
Factors which have contributed to the aggravation of the food situation include the coronavirus pandemic and the associated decline in production, the disruption of supply chains, and the situation in Ukraine. The conflict has already led to a significant increase in food prices on world markets and most likely may lead to a reduction in the volume of grain and other food supplies. In the long term, climate change will seriously affect the aggravation of food scarcity. Drought, reduced soil fertility, and the possible flooding of the coastal lowlands - all of these can lead to the erosion of the “food sovereignty” of individual countries and a sharp decrease in the level of food security throughout the world.
How serious are the consequences of the current food crisis? Which countries and regions are most likely to be affected? What measures can the international community take to deal with the crisis? Should Russian consumers be afraid of interruptions in food supplies?
Participants of the discussion answered these and other questions.
Speakers:
- Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the Moscow Office of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations;
- Oleg Sirota, Head of the Union of Russian Cheese Makers, Farmer-Cheese Maker;
- Nourhan ElSheikh, Professor of Political Science, Cairo University (online);
- Aniset Gabriel Kotchofa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Benin to the Russian Federation and the CIS countries (2012–2016), Associate Professor of Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Moderator: