Global food crisis looms as Ukraine struggles to export its grain after Russian invasion

euronews.com:

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth month, is preventing grain from leaving the "breadbasket of the world" and making food more expensive across the globe.

Russian forces' blockade of Ukrainian ports, destruction and alleged theft of the country's grains and agricultural machinery, and shells and mines now strewn across its fields are threatening to worsen shortages, hunger and political instability in developing countries.

Weeks of negotiations on safe corridors to get grain out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports have made little progress, with urgency rising as the summer harvest season arrives.

"This needs to happen in the next couple of months [or] it's going to be horrific,'' said Anna Nagurney, a Kyiv School of Economics board member.

Nagurney said that 400 million people worldwide rely on Ukrainian food supplies. 

Together, Russia and Ukraine export nearly a third of the world's wheat and barley, more than 70% of its sunflower oil and are prominent suppliers of corn. Russia is the top global fertiliser producer.

The war made the already-climbing world food prices skyrocket by preventing some 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain from reaching the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia.

Up to 181 million people in 41 countries could face a food crisis or even outright famine, UN projections show.

Typically, 90% of wheat and other grain from Ukraine's fields are shipped to world markets by sea. However, Russian blockades of the Black Sea coast have held up most of the country's exports.

Some grain is being rerouted through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is minimal compared to sea routes. Additionally, the shipments are running behind because Ukraine's rail gauges do not match those of its