Russia’s war highlights the fragility of the global food supply — sustained investment is needed to feed the world in a changing climate.
Six boxes of wheat seed sit in our cold store. This is the first time in a decade that my team has not been able to send to Ukraine the improved germplasm we’ve developed as part of the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Texcoco, Mexico. International postal and courier services are suspended. The seed had boosted productivity year on year in the country, which is now being devastated by war.
Already, wheat prices have soared to record highs. The fate of the approximately 6 million hectares of wheat planted in Ukraine remains uncertain. Will it get the management and inputs required to ensure a productive harvest? Will the summer crop reach markets, both domestic and export? This picture will probably only worsen with rising input costs, as supply-chain disruptions, not least of fertilizer and fuel, reduce productivity in growing regions inside the war zone and beyond.
First, the world needs to spread its bets. How? By expanding wheat production in high-productivity areas and in regions with suitable conditions , and by increasing productivity in places where it is low .
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