In response to the impending gaps in food supplies worldwide due to the Ukraine war, Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir is calling for international cooperation.

"If everyone only thinks of themselves now, then we will only exacerbate the crisis," said the Green politician on Friday in the ZDF "Morgenmagazin".

“We must prevent the markets from being closed.

We have to ensure that the grain that is available is fairly accessible at affordable prices.” In other parts of the world there is a risk of hunger.

It is also important to help Ukraine.

Özdemir accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using grain prices and hunger as a means of political pressure.

Ukraine is an important export country for wheat.

This Friday, the agriculture ministers of the G7 countries Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the USA and Great Britain want to discuss the situation.

Germany, as the G7 presidency country, is leading the video conference, which Ukrainian Minister Roman Leschenko and international organizations are also expected to take part in.

Strong price increase

The farmers' association also expressed concern: the war in Ukraine would make food more expensive in the foreseeable future.

"We assume that this war will cause prices to rise even further," said the President of the German Farmers' Association, Joachim Rukwied, to the "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Friday edition).

According to him, farmers are also suffering from high costs: "In the case of fertilizers, there are already the first supply bottlenecks or failures, prices are still very high and will probably continue to rise with higher gas prices," explained Rukwied.

The impending failure of Ukrainian grain deliveries will hit other countries harder than Europe.

"The grain supply is secured due to a high level of self-production," says Rukwied with a view to the EU.

"But we assume that the restrictions on grain exports from Russia and Ukraine will lead to massive shortages in North Africa and Arabia," he warned.

The EU must provide help here with increased exports: "We must now do everything we can to ensure that other regions, especially the EU, step in here," said the farmer's president.

“We have the potential to partially compensate for deficits elsewhere in the world.

Politicians must set the appropriate framework conditions for this.”

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture announced that after the G7 consultations, the first measures to support agriculture in Germany should also be presented.

"We help where we can," said Özdemir.

Ukraine is an important producer of grain and oilseeds such as sunflowers and rapeseed.

Because of the Russian war of aggression, the prices for many agricultural products are currently skyrocketing.

Export is not possible, and this year's harvest in Ukraine is also likely to be canceled due to the war.

It is feared that many countries will no longer be able to pay the prices;

Hunger and social unrest threaten.