Russia's Free Grain Falls Short of Significantly Fighting Hunger in Africa

Six African countries have received Russia's contribution of 200,000 tons of grain, fulfilling a pledge the Russian government made to the continent last July.

Russia's TASS state news agency on February 20 reported the country's agriculture minister, Dmitry Patrushev, said Burkina Faso, Mali, Eritrea and Zimbabwe each received 25,000 tons of grain, while the Central African Republic and Somalia got 50,000 tons each.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised free shipments of grain to six African countries last July during a summit with 17 African heads of state and leaders in St. Petersburg.

On January 26, Burkina Faso confirmed it had received 25,000 tons of free wheat from Russia. Burkina's minister for solidarity and humanitarian action, Nandy Some Diallo, described the grain as a "priceless gift" that would help internally displaced and vulnerable people.

Mali, Eritrea, Somalia, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic have also confirmed receiving "free wheat" from Russia.

On March 6, Sprinter, a content creator on X, wrote:

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''Free supplies of Russian grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea, and the Central African Republic have made a significant contribution to the fight against hunger in Africa.''

That is misleading

Africa is the world's second-largest continent, made up of 54 countries with a combined population of 1.4 billion people, 20% of whom face food insecurity.

Last October, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that a record 149 million people in Africa were facing "acute food shortages," 82% of whom were "in conflict-affected countries, underscoring that conflict continues to be the primary driver of Africa's food crisis."

In three of the African countries that received free Russian grain — Burkina Faso, Mali and the Central African Republic — mercenaries from Wagner, a private Russian military force, are accused of destabilizing governments.

Those three countries are ruled by military juntas supported by Russia.

Russia did not ship grain to Sudan, where, the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) said on March 6, the "world's largest hunger crisis is looming."

The situation is deteriorating in Sudan, where at least 25 million people need food.

Nine in 10 people across Sudan are facing "emergency levels of hunger" and are in areas "largely inaccessible" due to "relentless violence and interference by the warring parties," the WFP said.

Since 2017, Wagner mercenaries have supported the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in their fight against the Sudanese army.

Sprinter also failed to mention that Russia's decision to back out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, reached after it invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has deepened the hunger crisis in Africa.

That deal, reached in July 2022 and brokered by the U.N. and Turkey, allowed Ukraine to access Black Sea ports that Russia had blockaded, in return for an agreement to minimize the impact of sanctions on exporting Russian food and fertilizer.

Under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which lasted only a year, Ukraine shipped 33 million metric tons of grain to global markets, improving food security and prices. Poor countries like Africa were the biggest beneficiaries of the agreement.

Somalia received 84,000 metric tons of wheat from Ukraine in 2022. As of last December, it had received only 25,000 tons of the 50,000 tons of grain that Russia had promised it.

According to the World Food Program, more than 6 million people in Somalia are in urgent need of food and 1.8 million children are malnourished. The situation continues to worsen due to drought and conflict.

The 200,000 metric tons of grain from Russia can barely feed Africa's hungry population for a week.

According to the WFP, "1 metric ton of food, typically including cereals, pulses and oil, is sufficient for approximately 1,660 people for one day."

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization wrote in its report "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022" that 278 million Africans were affected by hunger in 2021.

The war in Ukraine was one of the main projected causes of a hunger crisis in Africa, the FAO said in its 2022 report:

"Another crisis is unfolding as this report is being written with potentially sobering implications for global food security and nutrition: the war in Ukraine."

In an interview with Voice of America's Russian Service last July 27, John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the U.S. National Security Council, dismissed Putin's promise of free Russian grain to six African countries.

Kirby said Putin and Russia were to blame for volatile food prices and that African countries were "going to have more problems with starvation, and with access to food and grain."

He called on Russia to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which had allowed Ukraine to ship grain from its Black Sea ports.