(MENAFN) Sara Menker, the CEO of Gro Intelligence, a data and analytics company focused on food security and climate change, warned of the critical situation the world is facing with the convergence of a currency crisis, a debt crisis, and a food crisis. Speaking at the FII Priority conference, Menker highlighted how natural disasters, pandemics, and political conflicts have disrupted supply chains, trade flows, and agricultural production over the past three years. This has resulted in a dramatic rise in the price of food, with a 66 percent increase in the US, a 2,000 percent increase in Sudan, and a staggering 3,000 percent increase in Lebanon.
Menker explained that many countries are facing an unprecedented amount of foreign currency-denominated debt that they have to pay in US dollars, which are the same dollars they need to use to import food that has been devalued. This has led to a vicious cycle of economic instability and food insecurity.
Ertharin Cousin, the CEO and managing director of Food Systems for the Future, a nutrition impact investment fund, emphasized that the three primary drivers of food insecurity and chronic malnutrition across the globe are climate, conflict, and economic instability. Although there has been a sufficient humanitarian response to the food security challenge, there has been a lack of investment in the adaptation of agriculture required to support a sustainable transformation of the food system. Cousin believes that such a transformation could support the environment and human health and generate the economic return needed for everyone in the food sector.
In conclusion, the world is facing a complex and interconnected set of challenges that threaten global food security. The need for investing in the adaptation of agriculture is more urgent than ever to transform the food system sustainably and support the environment, human health, and economic development.
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