Svenja Schulze warns of a global hunger crisis

She also called for Europe to reconsider its trade model with the African continent. The approach of buying raw materials as cheaply as possible and processing them further is “not expedient”. But the developing countries themselves must also work to break free of their dependency on imports of food and start growing more of it themselves.

Helping developing countries become less dependent on the global grain market also has a geopolitical component. After all, Moscow and Beijing controlled the bulk of global supplies. “Putin uses hunger as a weapon, unfortunately he has no scruples,” said Schulze. “We have to counter this with a policy for food security.”

Read the full interview here:

Ms. Schulze, you have just come from Ethiopia and Lebanon, where you got an idea of ​​the local nutritional problems. What is your assessment, are we facing a global crisis? I’m afraid we’re facing a serious hunger crisis. Many factors are coming together at the moment: climate change with droughts and heavy rain, species extinction, the pandemic. All of this together had already led to record food prices. Now comes the Russian war against Ukraine, in the breadbasket of the world. Food reserves can no longer be delivered, so prices continue to rise. It is the poorest who suffer the most. In some African countries, people have to spend 80 percent of their income on food. If food becomes more expensive, they quickly fall into starvation.

Does that mean, however, that we are currently facing a distribution problem?

In the short term, it is a matter of ensuring that the existing reserves reach the people. That is why it is so important that no export restrictions are imposed and that agricultural products remain exempt from Russia’s sanctions. And it’s crucial that aid organizations like the World Food Program have the money to buy and distribute food.

And in the medium term?
In the medium term, there is also the question of quantity, depending on how high the crop yields are. In the Ukraine it will now not be possible to plant as much as in the years before. Russia openly threatens to only deliver to so-called friendly states, a terrible blackmail tactic. On the African continent, in Ethiopia for example, droughts and plagues of locusts lead to massive crop failures. All these effects are just coming together.

Can we in Germany and Europe try to balance out these effects? Through more cultivation, for example?
It would be a big mistake to destroy the few natural areas that still exist in the German agricultural landscape. Some are currently trying to roll back all advances in environmental and agricultural policy for more biodiversity. That would only create more problems in the long run. But Germany also has other levers: Nine percent of global grain production ends up in the tank as biofuel. In Germany alone, five percent of the arable land is used for biofuel production. If we succeed in gaining these areas for food production step by step, that would be a gain for food security. The plate is more important than the tank. Biofuel should be obtained from residues, not from food.

What can developing countries themselves do?
We must succeed in getting more self-sufficiency plants planted in countries that are so heavily dependent on imports. In North Africa, for example, the import quota is sometimes 80 percent.

How did this strong dependency come about?
Many countries have focused on other problems because there was enough grain on the markets. Now we see what the consequences are. This overlapping of crises is already a major challenge for us – the challenge is even greater for emerging and developing countries.

Does this mean that world trade will be reduced and each country will once again concentrate primarily on supplying its own population?
That’s not my goal. It is important to create more sustainable and diverse supply chains so that the entire supply does not collapse as soon as a single supplier goes missing. Such dependencies are dangerous. Countries on the African continent or in the Middle East need to become more self-sufficient in food supplies.

Don’t we have to question the current trade model with developing countries in Europe too?
This war against Ukraine marks a turning point in many ways. I think the previous model of globalization must also be questioned. The approach of buying raw materials as cheaply as possible and processing them here is not effective – after all, we want these countries to have fair prospects and real development opportunities. We also just discussed this at the World Bank conference: we have to create a globalization of sustainability.

Do you see an opportunity in the current crisis to advance exactly that?
It is very difficult for me to speak of this crisis as an opportunity. It is important to prevent what we can still prevent: for example, that we do not slide unchecked into a famine that is throwing many societies around the world out of balance. That’s why I also proposed an alliance for global food security, which should coordinate the existing aid efforts.

Do you already have concrete commitments for your alliance?
It is designed as an open alliance, already supported by the G7 countries. The World Bank and the African Union have now made suggestions for further development. No new bureaucracies should be created, but I am striving for an agile alliance with different focal points. We need a great many states as donors. Foundations and private companies are also invited. As announced by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Germany will provide 430 million euros to lay the first foundation for more food security worldwide.

However, the World Food Program assumes that it will need around 20 billion euros this year due to rising food prices and the increasing number of people in need. Such sums are just a drop in the bucket…
Exactly, that’s why we in this alliance have to keep the attention for the topic high. Because in such a fast-moving world, it is very difficult to obtain the necessary money to fight hunger in the long term. We have to stay on the ball. One-time payments are not enough.

Read more about the global food crisis here:

In addition to the strong import dependency, another problem is the high level of debt, especially in African countries. Does that mean that German money for development cooperation ends up being used to service these debts?
We make sure that the help really reaches those affected. But the debt crisis is really a problem. Because in net terms, states have to pay back more in debt service than they receive in support from us – this means that these societies are not moving forward. We have to be very careful that the debt is not socialised, i.e. taken over by the state, and that the profits end up with private creditors.

Do you see a haircut for these countries as a solution?
The debt situation is very different. In many developing countries, China is now the largest creditor, in some private creditors play a major role. Chad, for example, is 40 percent indebted to a single resource company. So we need debt restructuring that involves all stakeholders. There is a framework for this, but it does not work automatically and depends on the cooperation of China in particular. A more effective implementation of the existing mechanisms and accompanying measures, for example to better involve private creditors, are necessary.

Keyword China: According to estimates, the country is currently bunkering around half of the grain available worldwide. Shouldn’t the Chinese also be won over to the alliance?
China also stores for its own population because there have also been major crop losses there. But exports must not be stopped, because then prices will continue to rise. That is why we will also try to win China over to our alliance.

Does the issue of food security then also have a geopolitical component to make the countries less dependent on Beijing and Moscow, who currently control the global grain market?
Definitely yes. Putin deliberately uses hunger as a weapon, unfortunately he has no qualms about it. We must counter this with a food security policy. As Development Minister, I look at what developing countries need in order to grow their own food and no longer be so dependent on imports. If that succeeds, then that will also be a security policy gain.

Back to Germany again. During the coalition negotiations, there was talk of abolishing the development ministry, and the budget was initially cut. After this devaluation, is your department being revalued again with the current crisis?
This coalition decided in favor of an independent and strong development ministry for good reasons. It has been abolished in Great Britain, and of course that has consequences for international visibility. The British have left a vacuum that needs to be filled. At the World Bank meeting in Washington last week, calls were made for Germany to play a leading role. In addition to the people in Ukraine, the war affects the poorest of the poor worldwide. If we don’t react, the consequences will hit us with great force. In this respect, German development cooperation is particularly important today.

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