UN food chief warns Ukraine war has global impact

The United Nations food chief warned that the crisis in Ukraine had created “a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe”.

David Beasley, Executive Director, UN World Food Program said “And countries like, let's say, Yemen, where we had just cut eight million people down to 50% rations, and now we're looking to go to zero rations. Niger, Mali, Chad, and I could go on and on and on. So now we're talking about a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe, because Ukraine - from the breadbasket of the world now to bread lines - we never would have dreamed anything like this would be possible. And it's not just decimating dynamically Ukraine in the region, but it will have global context impact beyond anything we've seen since World War Two."

Ukraine and Russia produce 30% of the global wheat supply, 20% of the global maize supply and 75-80% of the sunflower seed oil.