The past week has been another reminder of the urgent need to build global food systems that treat food as a human right rather than a commodity.
On May 13, India banned most wheat exports to safeguard domestic food security for its 1.4 billion people, pushing the global price of wheat to record highs.
India is the latest country turning to export restrictions to cope with rising food prices fueled by the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and climate change. In May 2021, Argentina banned beef exports to tamp inflation that reached 50.9 percent. Indonesia halted palm oil exports and Kazakhstan restricted wheat and wheat flour exports as local prices for these commodities soared. As of early May 2022, more than 20 countries had imposed food export bans.
On May 19, the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the global hunger crisis and on the same day a group of 35 UN states endorsed a statement by the United States urging member states to avoid export bans on food and fertilizer on the ground that they can worsen the global food crisis.
