Conflicts and disruptions to global energy markets could push millions more people into hunger by driving up fuel, fertiliser and food costs, the head of the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development warned, as a new UN report showed that global progress against hunger remains fragile.
The UN food security report, released Tuesday, found that global hunger has eased modestly in recent years, but projected that more than 500 million people could still face chronic hunger by 2030.
Africa is expected to bear the largest share of that burden.
In an interview with The Associated Press on July 10, IFAD President Alvaro Lario said that geopolitical tensions and potential disruptions to shipping and energy supplies — including uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war — could leave an additional 9 to 18 million people facing hunger if the shocks persist.
Conflict remains one of the biggest obstacles to reducing hunger worldwide, Lario said.
Wars and geopolitical tensions can disrupt shipping, energy supplies and agricultural inputs, increasing costs across food systems already strained by inflation.
Lario stressed that hunger and conflict often reinforce one another, creating a cycle that is difficult to break without greater stability.
Higher energy prices are already affecting fertilisers and agricultural production, he said.
The impact is especially significant for small-scale farmers, many of whom rely on diesel fuel to pump water, harvest crops and transport goods to market.