During 2022 and 2023 there were food crises in several regions as indicated by rising food prices. In 2022, the world experienced significant food price inflation along with major food shortages in several regions. Sub-Saharan Africa, Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iraq were most affected. Prices of wheat, maize, oil seeds, bread, pasta, flour, cooking oil, sugar, eggs, chickpeas and meat increased. Many factors contributed to the world food crisis. These include supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global energy crisis (2021–2023), the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and floods and heatwaves during 2021 (which destroyed key American and European crops). Droughts were also a factor; in early 2022, some areas of Spain and Portugal lost 60–80% of their crops due to widespread drought.
Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, food prices were already at a record high. 82 million East Africans and 42 million West Africans faced acute food insecurity in 2021. By the end of 2022, more than 8 million Somalis were in need of food assistance. In February 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported a 20% rise in food prices since February 2021. The war further pushed this increase to 40% in March 2022 but was reduced to 18% by January 2023. But the FAO warned that inflation of food prices would continue in many countries.
Increased fuel and transport prices have made food distribution worse and more complex. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine was the fourth-largest exporter of maize and wheat. Since then, the Russian invasion crippled supplies. This resulted in inflation and scarcity of these commodities in dependent countries. Global food reserves have also decreased due to the effects of climate change on agriculture.
This caused food riots and famine in different countries. Furthermore, China acquired 51% of the world supply of wheat, 60% of rice, and 69% of maize stockpiles in the first half of 2022. The United States increased its farm production by April 2022, also contributing $215 million in development assistance plus $320 million for the Horn of Africa. A grain agreement was signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations to open Ukrainian ports. This resulted in grain shipment by 27 vessels from Ukraine between June and August 2022 which stalled in October and then resumed in November 2022. In addition, the World Bank announced a new $12 billion fund to address the food crises.
The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2023 described food supply crises as a global risk. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and crop failures from climate change worsened worldwide hunger and malnutrition. Even Global North countries known for stable food supplies were impacted. Analysts described this food inflation as the worst since the 2007–2008 world food price crisis. However, in early 2024, the FAO reported a return to more moderate commodities market prices. Moreover, the World Economic Forum's 2024 Global Risks Report showed significantly less concern from experts but the report still highlighted a risk of the Gaza war and the return of El Niño. Both of these events could disrupt supply chains again.
Price increases by region
Rises in food prices have affected parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Protests and food riots have occurred in more severely affected countries such as Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Iraq. There have also been riots and other forms of unrest due to food prices rising in Albania, Kenya, Indonesia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Argentina, Tunisia, and Lebanon.
Africa and MENA
Price increases for certain staples, such as wheat, were expected to most severely affect countries like Egypt, Turkey, and Somalia in MENA and East Africa, which rely heavily on wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia. This is expected to further hurt prices in regional food markets, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan.
The changes in the food market caused by the invasion of Ukraine further exacerbated existing drought problems in the already vulnerable Horn of Africa. In February, the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF had already projected nutrition and hunger gaps for thirteen million people in East Africa. By March, the UN had expanded that number to 20 million people.
Iran
In May 2022, ongoing protests in Iran escalated into nationwide civil unrest as a result of government price hikes on staple foods including bread and pasta. The protests were part of a countrywide wave of protests beginning in July 2021. Protests were initially concentrated in the drought-stricken province of Khuzestan, but rapidly spread nationwide. Authorities responded by declaring riot control action and blocking internet access.
Prior to the start of the demonstrations, preceding and during International Workers' Day on 1 May, Iran preemptively detained 38 teachers in order to stymie planned nationwide protests during National Teachers' Day on 2 May. Workers' protests had increased over the past year as the result of a deterioration in living conditions caused by the re-imposition of US sanctions against Iran during the administration of Donald Trump and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Iranian government ended subsidies for imported wheat, the price of flour soared by around 500%, exacerbating current inflation, which hovered around 50%.
The protests, beginning on 6 May in Khuzestan, were initially associated with the rising cost of living. However, they rapidly escalated into anti-Mullah demonstrations. Ranchers in at least 10 cities allegedly staged demonstrations at offices of the Iranian Agricultural Ministry, with pensioners participating in similar demonstrations. Large scale demonstrations reportedly broke out in the city of Dezful, and reportedly spread into the cities of Khafajia, Hawizeh, and Shiraz.
Syria
The United Nations reported that 90% of the country's population lives in poverty, and that more than half is food insecure.
West Africa
Oxfam, ALIMA and Save the Children warned that the food crises in West Africa could affect 27 million people, especially in Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mali, and Nigeria.
During a May 2022 visit to Nigeria, the Secretary-General of the United Nations said the war in Ukraine has made the food, energy, and economic crises worse in Africa as a whole.
On 2 June 2022, Chad declared a national food emergency.
Kenya
Northern Kenya experienced the worst drought in 40 years that left 4.4 million people acutely food insecure, with 1.2 million facing emergency hunger levels. The U.N. Development Program said rising food and energy prices caused by COVID-19 and the Russian war in Ukraine hit Sub-Saharan Africa hardest. Kenyan chapati makers are shrinking the size of their dough balls to make ends meet.
Yemen
The main cause of the famine in Yemen is the Yemeni Civil War. Aid often cannot effectively reach the population because of the blockade of Yemen by Saudi Arabia which started in 2015. 17.4 million do not have enough food and malnutrition levels in Yemen are among the highest in the world.
Tunisia
By May 2022, wheat prices in Tunisia had risen to over $430 per tonne, more than double the cost from 2021 due to supply interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Tunisia imports over 95% of the soft wheat used in its bread, increasing its purchases by $250 million in 2022.
Asia
Bangladesh
International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Bangladesh to rise to 5.9% by the year 2022. The price of cooking oil, sugar, eggs and chickpeas increased sharply, which contributed a great deal to the inflation. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, general inflation climbed to 6.17% by February 2022. Government officials link local prices to the global market situation and necessary steps taken to stabilize price hikes due to these conditions. But some experts point to government failures as a cause of the price hikes, in addition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Before the invasion of Ukraine, 95% of the cooking oil in Bangladesh was imported from overseas. The price of cooking oil per barrel was $700 then, it went up to $1,940 prior to the invasion. The price of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) also increased 12% by March. Overall gouging of food prices resulted in largescale protests in the country.
Afghanistan
Following the Taliban takeover of 2021, Western nations cut much of their humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. This led to a lack of access to food, water, shelter, and health care for much of the Afghani population. The Biden administration froze about $9 billion of the Afghan central bank's assets, which blocked the Taliban from having access to funds held in US bank accounts. In October 2021, the UN stated that more than half of Afghanistan's 39 million people faced an acute food shortage.
The price increases connected to Russia's invasion of Ukraine may worsen the economic crises in Afghanistan that followed the US withdrawal. According to the UN, $4.4bn is needed to pay for increased food costs, with human rights experts calling on the US to unblock assets of the Afghan central bank to ease humanitarian crisis.
India
6 out of every 10 Indians are dependent on state-delivered subsidised food. Though early reporting and government policy after the price increases following the war in Ukraine for wheat suggested India was well positioned to export more wheat, by end of April a heatwave that was projected to decrease harvests, increasing local prices, and fertilizer price increases projected a shortfall rather than an export-friendly market. The decrease in harvests was largely driven by the 2022 Indian heat wave which severely reduced the wheat harvest, killing the plants during the final weeks where they were usually growing.
On 13 May 2022, India, the world's second largest producer of wheat, prohibited wheat exports. IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva urged India to reconsider its ban on wheat exports.
On 20 July 2023, India's government announced that it would stop exporting the widely consumed non-basmati white rice. On 25 August 2023, India imposed a 20 percent duty on exports of parboiled rice.
Pakistan
Agricultural fields in Pakistan were devastated by the 2022 Pakistan floods. The immediate causes of the floods were heavier than usual monsoon rains and melting glaciers that followed a severe heat wave, both of which are linked to climate change.
Indonesia
Extreme price increases for cooking oil sparked student protests and other civil unrest. The national government of Indonesia banned export of palm oil. As Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil, and with a harvest decline in the second largest producer and neighbor Malaysia, the ban caused severe global supply chain disruptions and further exacerbated the price increases caused by the loss of Russian and Ukrainian oil exports and failures of soy crops in South America. Following protests by palm farmers, the ban was lifted in late May after being in effect for around three weeks.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka was much more harshly affected by the food crisis as it was already facing mass man-made crop failures due to a total ban on chemical fertilizer by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resulting in rice production in Sri Lanka falling by 40–50%, while other crops also suffered large losses with some even reaching 70% loss even before it was affected by the Russian crisis. The 2022 Sri Lankan protests escalated in part due to food shortages and post-COVID-19 pandemic inflation. By the time government reversed the ban on chemical fertilizer the Russian invasion of Ukraine had caused fertilizer prices to rise making it unaffordable for Sri Lanka which had defaulted on its loans after nearly running out of forex reserves. On 9 May, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned from his position after protests on the country's economic crisis turned violent.
Europe
Europe's energy crisis and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine caused significant price increases for European fertilizer and food industries. According to Julia Meehan, the head of fertilizers for the commodity price firm ICIS, "We are seeing record prices for every fertilizer type, which are all way above the previous highs in 2008. It's very, very serious. People don't realize that 50% of the world's food relies on fertilizers."
In 2022, Europe's driest summer in 500 years had a negative impact on European agricultural production.
United Kingdom
Starting on 21 February 2023, supermarkets in the United Kingdom, such as Asda, Morrisons and Tesco, began rationing fruit and vegetables. The Telegraph gave the cause as "poor foreign harvests and a domestic farming crisis". The shortages were expected to last several weeks, and in a YouGov poll, 61% of UK respondents said they had personally noticed or experienced food shortages in their local shop or supermarket during mid-to-late February. Research from Kantar showed grocery price inflation hit its highest level since records began in 2008, with food inflation reaching 17.1% in February.
North America
North America was already experiencing significant shortfalls and supply chain issues connected to the 2020–2023 North American drought and the 2021–2023 global supply chain crisis. The supply chain crisis was also one factor in infant formula shortages in the US.
Haiti
Along with protests and civil unrest against the government of Haiti in response to rising energy prices and the rising cost of living, as well as armed gang violence and an outbreak of cholera, Haiti is experiencing widespread acute hunger. On 14 October 2022, the WFP reported that a record 4.7 million people (almost half of the country's population) were facing acute hunger in Haiti; using the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale, the WFP classified 19,000 of those people as belonging to the fifth and highest level on the scale, the "Catastrophe" phase (IPC 5).
South America
Argentina
In May 2021, Argentina banned all meat exports to curb inflation.
Chile
The 2022 food crises added to the mounting inflation in Chile since 2020. Measured by the change in the Índice de Precios al Consumidor, the (IPC) in March 2022 relative to March 2021 indicated an inflation rate of 1.9%, the highest known since October 1993. Bread and meat prices increased as well as those of food in general. Cooking oil prices rose, with a particular brand at a Santiago supermarket experiencing a 90% price increase from April 2021 to April 2022.
The inflation in food prices is thought to be behind an increasing number of supermarket credit cards issued in 2022 as well as increasing rates of supermarket credit card debt default. In April 2022, President Gabriel Boric announced a $3.7 billion economic recovery plan that included an increase in the minimum wage to help people deal with rising prices. Supermarkets belonging to Cencosud begun rationing cooking oil, rice and flour in late April.