Aid organizations warn that the hunger crises in the Horn of Africa and West Africa could escalate drastically. Food prices are rising rapidly as a result of the war in Ukraine, so that poverty is growing.
Grocery store in Malawi
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A district of Nairobi: Every morning the operators of a small kiosk bake fresh chapati – a flatbread. It's a typical breakfast here – but customers can hardly afford it anymore. “Chapati now costs twice as much. Life has become extremely expensive,” complains a buyer at the kiosk.
Price rise: bread bakers fear for their livelihood
The boss of the small bakery in Kenya's capital is Samuel Mose. He has four employees. The prices for wheat flour and sunflower oil have been rising for a long time. But now it's getting worse, he fears – because of Russia's war against Ukraine. “We're following the war because we need to know what's happening. Some of the products we use come from the two countries,” Moses told DW.
In Kenya, around a third of imported wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine. The Kenafric bakery in Nairobi, which produces bread for supermarkets, is also feeling the price increase on the world market: “The situation is worrying, not only because of the price, but also because of the availability,” says Kenafric manager Keval Shah. Many suppliers have already reduced the contractually agreed quantities – due to force majeure.
Many Kenyans with low incomes can hardly afford groceries
In Africa, many countries have already been affected by the corona pandemic, the climate crisis, humanitarian emergencies or political and economic unrest, says Theresa Anderson, head of global climate justice at the non-governmental organization Actionaid. Now the effects of the Ukraine war are added.
Zimbabwe: Petrol prices have tripled
“Mothers skip meals, go hungry, many can no longer pay school fees, work and drop out of school “says Anderson in the DW-Interview. The global price increase is felt more in Africa than in other parts of the world.
Local communities experienced higher price increases than the global average. “In Zimbabwe, the price of petrol has more than tripled, as has the price of cooking gas. The price of noodles has more than doubled.”
The famine in the Horn of Africa threatens to spread
According to Anderson, many countries are already in a supply crisis: “But if nothing changes, we could face a famine of unprecedented proportions. The situation in the Horn of Africa is particularly extreme, where 20 million people are already suffering from severe hunger due to the ongoing drought. “
Famine in the Horn of Africa is growing
The assessment of the World Food Program of the United Nations (WFP) is similarly worrying. Prices have already skyrocketed in East Africa as livestock died and harvest levels were well below long-term averages, says Petroc Wilton, WFP spokesman in Somalia. Added to this is the lack of wheat deliveries from Ukraine.
According to the WFP, a humanitarian catastrophe is looming in Somalia. Six million people are acutely food insecure, including 1.4 million children. Famine could break out as early as the middle of the year if aid organizations do not receive additional funds.
South Sudan: Children collect grain from burst sacks
Hirsiyow Idolo Mohamed has already felt the full force of the crisis. The Somali woman left her impoverished village with her three children and struggled for fifteen days on foot through the hot desert – with little water and food. Their destination: a newly built camp for displaced people near the town of Dollow in the Gedo region in southern Somalia. But two of her children didn't survive the arduous walk to the rescue camp.
Farmers flee drought and bombings
“We walked and walked, my son was very thirsty and exhausted. He asked me many times: 'Mom, water, Mommy, water'. He started panting , but there wasn't a drop of water I could give him,” she sadly told DW. Her sick daughter died upon arrival at the camp. The eight-year-old suffered from a severe cough and was weak from the trip.
Poor harvests contribute to less food availability
According to the WFP, more than half a million people fled their homes because of the drought this year alone. In West Africa, the security situation is also making food supplies more difficult. Due to constant attacks by the terrorist organization Boko Haram, farmers could not till their fields – they left their huts.
China: supply reserves?
Assalama Dawalack Sidi, regional director of the aid organization Oxfam in Niger: “This is an alarm signal for the world. We are currently witnessing that 27 million people in West Africa are affected by the worst food crisis in the last ten years.” If nothing is done, the number could rise to 38 million people.
Wheat does not have to be in short supply. Because actually there are large reserves: in China. Experts estimate that the East Asian country has around half of the world's inventories in its storage facilities. They fear that the People's Republic could take advantage of the world situation politically. Motto: grain against concessions: “China has enough reserves to support poorer countries in Africa with food supplies,” said Hendrik Mahlkow from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy of DW. The Communist Party can thus expand its great economic influence in Africa.
Collaboration: Marion Betjen, Flourish Chukwurah (Nigeria), Mariel Müller (Somalia)