Russia’s withdrawal from Black Sea grains deal to hit hard Africa’s neediest

Parts of Africa and the Middle East will likely feel the impacts of Russia’s latest decision to withdraw from a pact that allowed Ukrainian grains to leave Black Sea ports.

The Black Sea grains deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, which has allowed more than 30 million tons to be exported from Ukraine’s three main ports, helped bring down global food prices and allowed aid agencies to access hundreds of thousands of tons of food at a time of rising needs and scarce funding. But Russia’s withdrawal from the pact is set to send shivers especially through poorer African countries, many of which are already reeling from inflation, climate shocks and conflict.

“There is simply too much at stake in a hungry and hurting world,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this week. “Today’s decision by the Russian Federation will strike a blow to people in need everywhere,” the UN chief said.

The end of the Black Sea grains deal will likely hit the Horn of Africa very hard, according to aid officials, warning that another hike in food prices would add to the tens of millions of people facing hunger. Famine in parts of the Horn of Africa was averted this year as the rainy season, projected to fail for a fifth consecutive year, beat expectations.

Officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have warned that since diets in Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea were focused on wheat, any change would be “very slow.” UN data shows that around 700,000 tons have been shipped to Kenya and Ethiopia since the Black Sea deal began.