Europe: The European Union has been globally addressing the issue of food crisis that arose after the Russian invasion on Ukraine, which is one of the largest grain exporters across the world. Due to the ongoing war with Russia, Ukrainian food production and supplies were hampered in April 2022. The production of crops in Ukraine in January and February 2022 was record-breaking.
However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the farms turned out to be barren lands with infertile soil and degraded land quality; therefore, by April, food production had dropped tremendously.
At the same time, around twenty million tonnes of grains were stuck on the Black Sea Coast, which led to soaring prices of food worldwide. But with the help of European Union solidarity lanes, more than eighteen million tonnes of grains, including oilseeds and other products, were exported with the help of European countries.
Through these solidarity lanes, the exporters were provided with better transport connectivity through trains, vessels and lorries. For the grains to reach their destinations as quickly as possible, the European Union member countries enabled faster customs operations for these products.
Moreover, warehousing and storage facilities were provided to protect the grains from being wasted or spoiled, as Russia had blocked the Ukrainian sea ports since the start of the war.
In July 2022, The United Nations and Türkiye signed an agreement for a safe corridor in the Black Sea, through the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi.
Therefore, by the end of November, more than thirty million tonnes of grains were exported through the Black Sea corridor. Out of this, the developing countries had acquired two-thirds of wheat.
The European Union had spent around 950 million euros on humanitarian food assistance. For the period between 2020-2024, more than eight billion euros have been allotted to ensure global food security.
