US buys massive shipment of Ukrainian grain for poor countries, other rich countries must follow suit, says WFP chief

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The United States has bought some 150,000 metric tons of grain from Ukraine for shipment to countries such as Kenya and Somalia, which have been beset by drought and are facing severe famine, the Associated Press reports.

Overseen by the United Nations World Food Program, the shipment was organized following last month’s Russia-Ukraine agreements with the UN and the Turkish government to resume exports of Ukrainian grain for the first time since the Russian invasion began in February.

In a statement to the Associated Press, World Food Program chief David Beasley said 22 million people are hungry in the Horn of Africa, a region that is withering under extended drought and which cannot manage the worldwide rise in fuel and food prices. “I think there’s a high probability we’ll have a declaration of famine,” Beasley said.

Beasley also emphasized that other rich countries must do their part to help countries facing famine, especially as oil companies are making massive profits from the crisis. “With oil profits being so high right now — record-breaking profits, billions of dollars every week — … the Gulf states need to help, need to step up and do it now,” Beasley said.

“It’s inexcusable not to. Particularly since these are their neighbors, these are their brothers, their family.”
Known as the world’s “bread basket,” Ukraine supplied the WFP with half the grain it bought in 2021 to feed 130 million impoverished people, AP said.

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