In a report on food security across the world since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, East Asia Forum (Australia) writes that “major food supply chains, especially for wheat, corn, and vegetable oils, were disrupted overnight. The spike in food prices came on top of record-high prices caused by food supply chain disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The early prospects were for widespread hunger, even famine.” The report adds, “It is important to recognize how much suffering was avoided by informed and vigorous public action, especially in Asia. In retrospect, three things helped the world to cope — none of them preordained.”
One of the coping mechanisms was research centers, think tanks, and NGOs quickly mobilized their staff and knowledge to inform policymakers about what was happening and the likely outcomes of different policy approaches. For example, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) set up a special team and website to monitor the rapidly developing food situation. IFPRI, also with Jakarta-based United States–Indonesia Society (USINDO) organized a high-level forum with international food security experts. They recommended next steps and USINDO provided effective conduits on food security issues to senior Indonesian officials.
Republished in Gist News (Nigeria).