COMMENT – Contrary to the Kremlin\u2019s claims, the West is not to blame for current food shortages in the developing world. But it does have a responsibility to help address them, rather than leaving these countries to fend for themselves, as it largely did during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
MADRID \u2013 Actions speak louder than words. That adage explains why Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s depiction of his brutal and senseless war in Ukraine as a noble fight against Western imperialism comes across as farcical. It should also inform Western leaders\u2019 response to the crises that war has fueled \u2013 including the food crisis that looms over vulnerable populations in Africa.<\/p>\n
While climate change and the pandemic were undermining food security well before Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, the situation is even more dire now, particularly in low-income African countries that depend on food imports from Russia and Ukraine. Globally, a staggering 345 million people face acute food insecurity, with hundreds of millions more going to bed hungry every night. As United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned last month, there is a real risk of multiple famines this year.<\/p>\n