https://latinamericanpost.com/42717-food-security-crisis-in-latin-america-skyrocketing-food-prices
There is currently a food crisis in Latin America, it is occurring for a number of reasons and affecting everybody in the region but especially poorer Nations and communities. This year The World Bank and the G7 Presidency created a way to provide more food security with The Global Alliance for Food Security. Together G7 Presidency and The World Bank invested 30 billion dollars into food issues in South America. The 3 main reasons for the reduced food security are the war in Ukraine, and The High Inflation of food prices, and The Climate Crisis. Ukraine is one of the largest suppliers of wheat to the World Food Program that helps more than 120 countries, additionally Russia is a large supplier of fertilizer to the world and with much of their industry and money being sent to the war fertilizer production has been placed on the backburner. Venezuela, Argentina, and Colombia have some of the highest inflation price of food, the International Monetary Fund states this is because of the Covid-19 Pandemic and because of high gas prices (Caused by the war in Ukraine). The Climate Crisis is closely linked with the water crisis, droughts in Paraguay, Chile, and Argentina have affected the quality of prices, the world bank urges that governments conserve their water and make sure the water reaches poorer and more rural regions.
I was not aware the World bank did these things of this nature. The article doesn’t make it clear if they are investing this money themselves or if the countries are requesting it but the tone and way the article is written leads me to believe the world bank is issuing this money themselves without the express request of the countries. I was not aware that it is something the world bank could do. I was surprised the war in Ukraine affected Latin America this heavily, I had always imagined the reason it was affecting America so strongly was because we were boycotting Russian goods and because we had investments in Ukraine. But these Latin American countries are being affected even worse, I was not aware the conditions had gotten that dire in South America.
Recently in class we discussed the World bank and its relation to governments. How countries will give out great amounts of money to countries to complete projects or pull a country out of poverty or bankruptcy. We also learned about how some countries like China use aggressive methods and aggressive amounts of interest to get money from the loaners. I am curious to know who is giving out this money, whether it’s a reputable country or a less reputable one. It would be unfortunate if a country like China or Russia profiteered off of the misfortune of these Latin American Countries.