U.N. development head Alexander De Croo stated on Thursday that the effects of the Iran war, including disruptions to fuel and fertilizer supply just as farmers are raising crops, will force nearly 30 million people back into poverty.
The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that agricultural output has already decreased due to fertilizer shortages, which have been made worse by the obstruction of cargo ships via the Strait of Hormuz.
The former prime minister of Belgium continued, “That would probably affect crop yields later this year.
“He listed other consequences of the crisis, such as energy shortages and declining remittances, and stated that food insecurity “will be at its peak level in a few months, and there is not much that you can do about it.
“More than 30 million people would still be living in poverty even if the war ended tomorrow, according to him.
A third of the world’s fertilizer supplies cross the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran and the United States are fighting over control. The Middle East produces a large portion of the world’s fertilizer.
The U.N. World Food Programme, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund all issued warnings earlier this month that the war will increase food prices, further burdening the world’s most vulnerable populations.
According to De Croo, the crisis’s knock-on effects have already destroyed between 0.5% and 0.8% of the world’s GDP.
“Things that take decades to build up, it takes eight weeks of war to destroy them,” he remarked.
Humanitarian efforts were also being strained by the crisis as financing decreased and demands increased in areas like Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine that were already experiencing serious situations.
We will have to apologize to certain individuals, but we are unable to assist them,” he stated.
“People who would be surviving on help will not have this and will be pushed into even greater vulnerability.”
