No country in the world can be independent, how much ever a country shouts its lungs out on it. The recent food crisis in the world has proven this fact. Every nation has an abundance of one food item or thing and scarcity of another food item or thing. So all have to work together to overcome this food crisis and bring in food security.
Food security at risk
The recent and ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has limited global availability of staple food crops and fertilizers from these two countries. This threatens global food security and hence due to supply-demand imbalance, food commodity prices are skyrocketing. Food is going out of the reach of poor people. More and more people are approaching food banks. The quantity is insufficient to meet the demands of the population. Therefore, food security worldwide is at risk.
Food is not enough in the world to feed people (Source: Earth)People will get inadequate foods at high costs. Healthy food access would diminish. Malnutrition would rise and diseases would increase. This will culminate in more human and animal deaths. It requires an urgent action on a war footing. Hence EU along with the USA are planning on a new platform to address these growing food concerns.
EU and the USA’s new platform against food scarcity
The USA and the European Union are concerned deeply about the growing food scarcity in the world and the soaring food prices. In order to address these issues, the two major players have decided to form a new platform that would cater to ensuring food security in the world. Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s trade chief said in a recent interview:
“As many countries are facing food security issues, there is clearly a need for how to best align approaches to support these countries as the EU and US are major players and international donors,”
Food security at risk globally (Source: IFPRI)The two units are looking at the supply chain diversification of food and fertilizers in the world. Russia and Belarus were two major exporters of fertilizers for the world. And the war has disrupted this supply and outward movement. Valdis added that they are trying to put things in order for the world in the current scenario.
The two allies already have the Trade and Technology Council that was started to strengthen their ties. And now, they will add this new cooperation to this council. The two will meet in Paris over two days to plan out on the export controls, semiconductors and its procurement. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Katherine Tai will represent the USA at this meeting. Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s digital affairs chief, Margrethe Vestager, and the head of internal markets, Thierry Breton would be from the EU side.
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EU and its issues
The European Union does not have problems of food access now. But it does have issues of food affordability. Food is available to its people but at very high costs. This would be part of the discussion at the meeting. They want to discuss on the increasing export restrictions that makes food unavailable to the third world countries.
No country is independent on any aspects and can never become so (Source: Food navigator)These countries are paying their own farmers a lot of money to increase the food production in their area. They are also encouraging gene editing of plants to enhance the quantity that they produce. But these topics would not be part of the discussion. They are meeting solely to talk on the food scarcity and how to overcome it. They aim for providing food security on a global basis.