Food security – France continues to take action to strengthen global food security (26 november 2022)

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France is continuing to take action to strengthen global food security. Together with our partners, we are supporting Ukraine’s important efforts to export grain to those who need it, especially in Africa. France is also working to facilitate the export of fertilizer in order to save the coming harvests.

In response to this situation, on November 26, President Macron announced that France would be contributing an additional €6 million, which will be deployed by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, in order to facilitate the efforts of the World Food Programme (WFP) to transport and distribute Ukrainian grain to Yemen and Sudan. This announcement is part of the “Grain from Ukraine” initiative, which was launched on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the great Ukrainian famine known as the Holodomor.

These funds are in addition to the $14 million contribution to help the WFP deliver the 25,000 tons of wheat donated by Ukraine to Somalia, a contribution that was announced by the president of France in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly last September. This latest operation is moving ahead and the vessel has arrived in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, where the goods will be loaded onto the ship very soon.

The French approach to global food security is largely focused on three initiatives:

  • The European Union’s Solidarity Lanes, which have made it possible to export over 17 million tons of grain from Ukraine since last spring;
  • The European Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission Initiative (FARM), which was launched last March to support the most vulnerable countries;
  • The Save the Crops initiative launched by President Macron and partners on September 23 in an effort to facilitate access to fertilizer for the most vulnerable countries, especially those in Africa.