ELISA INTERNATIONAL

  As the devastating war in Ukraine rages on causing untold suffering, its impact is being felt far beyond its borders, battering a world emerging from a pandemic that has hit developing countries hardest.   Among the most critical is the food price crisis, calling into question the affordability and availability of wheat and other essential staples. There is no downplaying the blow that the war has dealt to food systems, already fragile from two years of COVID-19 disruptions, climate extremes, currency devaluations, and worsening fiscal constraints.  Because Ukraine and Russia account for over a quarter of the world’s annual wheat sales, the war has led to a significant rise in the price of food  , not only wheat but barley, maize, and edible oil among others exported by these two countries.  Global and domestic food prices  were already close to all-time highs before the war, and a large question mark looms over the next seasons’ harvests worldwide due to the sharp increase in fertil

  When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck in March 2020, a group of college students came together to start  The Farmlink Project , a nonprofit organization that works to alleviate food insecurity among poor people. Now, nearly a year later, Farmlink is making its mission an international one with The Farmlink Project: Mexico, which will fight food insecurity in Mexico. At the same time that Farmlink was forming, Mexicans living in poverty were experiencing the same disproportionate effects that the pandemic has had on the world’s poor communities. Food Insecurity in Mexico The pandemic hit Mexico early. The country had the fourth-highest death toll in the world by June 2020. As a result, impoverished communities suffered the brunt of the consequences. A government agency estimated that about 10 million people in Mexico fell into  extreme poverty  due to the economic effects of the pandemic. Food insecurity in Mexico became an immediate problem in many communities. Moreover, the govern

  More than 10 percent of Guatemalan children are underweight.  About 46.5 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from stunted growth  caused by malnutrition . Indigenous children are more likely to suffer from stunted growth; 58 percent of Guatemalan indigenous children under 5 suffer from this condition. Indigenous children are also more likely to suffer from anemia and vitamin deficiencies. Food insecurity  fuels migration  to the U.S.  Severe droughts, crops destroyed by fungus and persistent poverty all play a role in preventing families from thriving in their home country. USAID and U.N. reports find that poverty and food insecurity in Central America motivates migration more than other factors. From 2015 to 2018, food insecurity in Central America  increased annually .  Indigenous populations and women were the groups most impacted by chronic hunger. Poor and rural communities were also likely to suffer from hunger and malnutrition. USAID’s response to food insecurity is focused