War in Ukraine is exacerbating famine in the Middle East and North Africa

The food crisis in the Middle East and North Africa has intensified because of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Human Rights Watch reported this.

45% of Ukrainian exports are related to agricultural products. Most wheat production is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where fighting is most intense.

World food prices have risen by more than 30% since last year, and the war in Ukraine has further raised prices, which have reached their highest level since 1974, adjusted for inflation.

On March 9, Ukraine banned the export of grain and other foodstuffs to prevent an internal humanitarian crisis. Even if these supply chain failures are fixed in the near future, the problems are likely to persist.

In addition, fighting could seriously undermine future harvests, especially if the war continues until sowing in April.

The situation in some countries is as follows:

• Lebanon: 80% of wheat came from Ukraine.
• Egypt imports more than half of its vegetable oil from Ukraine. In addition, the country is the world's largest importer of wheat, 30% of which is in Ukraine.
• Libya receives more than 40% of wheat from Ukraine.
• The authorities of northwestern Syria provide the region with wheat and flour purchased through Turkey, but the latter also imports 90% of its wheat from Ukraine.
• Yemen imports at least 27% of its wheat from Ukraine.