After pandemic, war in Ukraine new threat to food security

By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A U.N. official says the crisis in Ukraine and Russia, one of the world’s main sources of grain, fertilizers and energy, is presenting new challenges in securing food supplies on top of a prolonged pandemic. Gabriel Ferrero de Loma-Osorio, head of the Committee on World Food Security, told the AP that an estimated 161 million more people are suffering from hunger than before the pandemic, totaling 821 million. With the war in Ukraine, he says countries across the world need to be very cautious in handling their food security. Bangladesh, where he spoke on the sidelines of a U.N. food conference, imports almost half its wheat from Ukraine and Russia but is self-sufficient in rice.