United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks at the Yemen peace talks closing press conference at the Johannesberg castle in Rimbo, near Stockholm December 13, 2018. TT News Agency/Pontus Lundahl via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. SWEDEN OUT.
New York [US], June 8 (ANI/Sputnik): Shortages will spread from corn and wheat to all staple crops and will have a serious impact on billions of people unless the crisis around fertilizers is resolved, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
“Food prices are at near record highs. Fertilizer prices have more than doubled, sounding an alarm everywhere. Without fertilizers, shortages will spread from corn and wheat to all staple crops, including rice, with a devastating impact on billions of people in Asia and South America,” he said in his opening remarks at the launch of the Global Crisis Response Group on food, energy and finance.
According to Guterres, this year’s food crisis is “about lack of access.” “Next year’s could be about lack of food,” he warned. Russia and Belarus, both under Western sanctions, are two of the world’s three biggest producers of potash, which is key to making fertilizers. (ANI/Sputnik)
