Food bill is growing alarmingly for poor countries, UN says

A mother feeds her children during an NGO-funded feeding program (pictorial image).

REUTERS / Romeo Ranoco

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1 min

The UN is worried that the food bill will increase for poor countries.

According to the Food and Agriculture Agency, the FAO, the cost of importing basic foodstuffs is expected to reach its highest level in history in the world this year: 1.7 trillion dollars.

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States will never have spent so much money to import food as in 2021, predicts the Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO).

The bill should jump 14% compared to 2020. The volume of purchases is on the rise, but it is above all the cost of food which is soaring, in particular that of cereals and oilseeds.

Strong demand for precaution

Yet there is no shortage in sight, even record crops of maize and rice are expected.

But strong precautionary demand is pushing prices up, maritime transport tariffs have tripled and soaring energy prices are pushing up the cost of fertilizers, just as that of cereals pushes up the cost of meat.

Rise in the price of nitrogen fertilizers

The UN Agency is particularly worried about developing countries.

They make 40% of global food purchases, but they must expect an even greater increase in their bill than rich countries: + 20%, this is the minimum increase that sub-Saharan Africa will have to incur for its food imports. .

Double trouble, Africa is also a big importer of nitrogenous fertilizers, the price of which is soaring with that of gas. 

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