Fears of further deterioration of the global food crisisalready fueled by climate change, the rising cost of living and fertilizer prices, the ongoing war on Ukraine.

A UN-brokered deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea may not be enough to make life easier for the millions struggling to feed themselves in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“I have been in this field for over 15 years and for me this is the worst crisis we have ever seen,” Karin Schmoller, executive director of the Shamba Center, a think tank working to end world hunger, told Politico.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked the global food market. For 36 countries, more than half of wheat imports come from Kyiv and Moscow.

As Politico points out in its report, the UN’s special crisis team is tracking more than 60 countries that are struggling to pay for food imports. High energy prices and volatile food markets are putting additional pressure on developing countries.

With this data, the United Nations goal of ending hunger by the end of the decade seems to be slipping away. Drought has hit the Horn of Africa and some 26 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia will face food insecurity in the next six months. More than 7 million animals have already become extinct. In East Africa as a whole, about 50 million people face food insecurity.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, tweeted: “The Horn of Africa is threatened by a completely avoidable famine.” It’s “a megacrisis that no one talks about,” he added.

In Lebanon, which also depends on grain imports from Russia and Ukraine, food prices rose by 122%. According to the World Bank, almost all low- and middle-income countries experience high inflation, making it difficult for people to buy groceries even where they are in short supply.

According to the UN World Food Programme, a record 49 million people in 46 countries could face hunger or “hungry conditions” in the face of a food crisis. The most affected countries are Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen.

An agreement between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN to resume food exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has given markets a boost. Wheat prices fell 14.5% between June and July.

However, the implementation of the agreement started slowly and against the backdrop of instability, as Russia struck the port of Odessa, which raised doubts in Ukraine and experts about whether exports could continue unhindered.

Rising fertilizer prices have also made it more expensive to grow food. A UN spokesman quoted by Politico warned that the crisis is “enormous”. The price of fertilizer was high even before Russia invaded Ukraine, but because of the industry’s dependence on natural gas, it has risen even more.

^{According to Politico}