No country can stay away from this worldwide crisis, which could be overcome only through cooperative efforts. Proposing the above-mentioned initiative is a practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind, offering a Chinese approach to the current difficulties.
by Qi Zhenhong
People are the foundation of a country and food is the primary need of the people. Food security is an eternal subject crucial to the sustainable development of mankind and an important guarantee for maintaining world peace and development. In recent years, due to multiple factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the Ukraine crisis, issues such as global food shortage and rising food prices are becoming prominent, and global food security is facing severe challenges.
According to the report of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022, 828 million people in 2021 were affected by hunger, an increase of 46 million and 150 million compared with 2020 and 2019 respectively. World Bank statistics show that as of July 15, 2022, the Agricultural Price Index was 19% higher than January 2021 while maize and wheat prices were 15% and 24% higher respectively.
To jointly address the global food crisis, when attending the Group of Twenty (G20) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting recently, China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward an eight-point cooperation initiative on global food security: First, support the central role of the United Nations (UN) in coordination. The role of the UN should be strengthened rather than weakened, and the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Programme (WFP) should be supported; Second, not impose export restriction on humanitarian food purchases by the WFP; Third, facilitate the entry of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian agricultural products and inputs into the international market; Fourth, major food-producing and net food-exporting countries should release their own export potential, reduce trade and technical barriers, and control making fuel out of crops, so as to ease the tight food supply in the market; Fifth, emergency measures taken by countries for food trade should be short-term, transparent, targeted and appropriate, and conform to the rules of the World Trade Organization; Sixth, support the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the cooperation on agricultural science and technology innovation among countries, and reduce restrictions on high-tech exchanges; Seventh, reduce food loss and waste. China has hosted the International Conference on Food Loss and Waste and stands ready to jointly follow through on the consensus reached at the conference; Eighth, help developing countries enhance their capacity for food production, storage and loss reduction in terms of capital, technology, market and others.
No country can stay away from this worldwide crisis, which could be overcome only through cooperative efforts. Proposing the above-mentioned initiative is a practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind, offering a Chinese approach to the current difficulties. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all parties and make due contributions to maintaining global food security.
As an island nation rich in agricultural resources, Sri Lanka had basically achieved self-sufficiency in rice production. However, due to the global food crisis, domestic foreign exchange shortage and fertilizer ban, etc., Sri Lanka is now facing food shortage. According to WFP Sri Lanka: Situation Report issued on July 15, 2022, 6.3 million people were found to be food insecure (28.3% of the entire population), out of which at least 65,600 are severely food insecure. Skyrocketing food costs have resulted in diminished purchasing power. About 6.7 million people are not consuming adequate diets and 5.3 million are reducing the number of everyday meals.
As a good neighbor, good partner and good friend, China pays close attention to Sri Lanka’s food security issue and has offered full support. Earlier this year, the Chinese government decided to provide RMB 500 million (approximately USD 76 million) of emergency humanitarian assistance, which includes 10,000 metric tons of rice for 1.1 million children in 7900 schools covering 9 provinces across the island under the School Meal Program, which will last for 6 months. Five batches of rice totaling 4,000 metric tons have arrived by now. Meanwhile, the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Yunnan Province, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, the Red Cross Society of China, etc. have donated tens of thousands of food packages to the Sri Lankan people of all ethnic groups. China will continue to offer support within its capabilities. China firmly believes that the current predicament Sri Lanka is facing is only temporary; the tenacious and wise Sri Lankan people will surely rise to the challenge, turn challenge into motivation, turn crisis into opportunity, and enable the country to enter a new phase of development.
The writer, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka
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