United News of Bangladesh

The UN food agency has warned that the Iran conflict is pushing millions more people into hunger, with rising food and fuel prices worsening conditions in already fragile countries. The World Food Programme (WFP) said new analysis shows an additional 2.5 million people in Somalia, 2.3 million in Afghanistan and 1.3 million in Sri Lanka are now struggling to afford basic food needs. The agency had earlier estimated that up to 45 million more people could fall into food insecurity by the end of June, adding to the 318 million already facing acute hunger worldwide. “We remain by that prognosis,” said Carl Skau, speaking to UN reporters. He said food insecurity is closely tied to energy prices, especially in poorer countries where families already spend most of their income on food. The WFP said in a report released Thursday that the Middle East crisis is creating wider global “spillover effects,” driving up fuel and food costs and disrupting trade routes. It warned that these pressures are likely to worsen in the coming months, even if the situation in the Middle East stabilises The agency also pointed to other hunger hotspots, including Sudan, Gaza, southern Lebanon, Yemen and Haiti. The Rome-based organisation said it has been forced to reduce food assistance in several countries due to funding shortages, and urged donors to increase support urgently, particularly for Somalia and Afghanistan, warning that the humanitarian consequences could be severe if aid does not increase.

The benchmark index of international food commodity prices has declined 2.1 percent compared to July, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Friday. The prices of rice, however, surged by 9.8 percent in August to a 15-year high compared to a month earlier. The increase was triggered by India's rice export ban from July, complicated by a seasonal lull in production between rice harvests in the Northern Hemisphere. Read : FAO-ERD sign technical assistance project agreement  Overall prices for grains and cereals, the largest component in the index, slipped by 0.7 percent due to strong harvests from major producers. Corn prices fell for the seventh consecutive month based on bumper crops in Brazil, while wheat prices were 3.8 percent lower based on strong harvests in the United States and Canada. FAO said four of the five broad sub-indexes saw declines. In addition to the slight dip in prices for grains and cereals, prices were also lower for vegetable oils, dairy products, and meat. Read : Global food prices rise after collapse of Black Sea deal: FAO Sugar prices, meanwhile, rose by 1.3 percent and were more than 34 percent above their levels from a year earlier. FAO said the increase in sugar prices stemmed from persisting concerns about impacts from the El Niño weather phenomenon in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Sugar output in India was also hurt by low rainfall there, while heavy rains made sugar harvests more difficult in Brazil. Read : Climate adaptive innovation must for development of agro industries: Speakers say at ICC Bangladesh, Standard Chartered, FAO roundtable The next FAO food price index is scheduled for publication on Oct. 6, 2023.