Food Security Challenges in Europe in the Context of the Prolonged Russian–Ukrainian Conflict
Mohammad Fazle Rabbi (drrabbikhan@gmail.com),
Tarek Ben Hassen,
Hamid El Bilali,
Dele Raheem and
António Raposo
Additional contact information
Mohammad Fazle Rabbi: Ihrig Károly Doctoral School of Management and Business, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Tarek Ben Hassen: Program of Policy, Planning, and Development, Department of International Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Hamid El Bilali: International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM-Bari), Via Ceglie 9, 70010 Valenzano, Italy
Dele Raheem: Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM), Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland
António Raposo: CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal
Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-20
Abstract:
The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two major agricultural powers, has numerous severe socio-economic consequences that are presently being felt worldwide and that are undermining the functioning of the global food system. The war has also had a profound impact on the European food system. Accordingly, this paper examines the implications of the ongoing conflict on food security pillars (viz. availability, access, use, stability) in European countries and considers potential strategies for addressing and mitigating these effects. The paper highlights that the food supply in Europe does not seem to be jeopardized since most European countries are generally self-sufficient in many products. Nonetheless, the conflict might impact food access and production costs. Indeed, the European agricultural industry is a net importer of several commodities, such as inputs and animal feed. This vulnerability, combined with the high costs of inputs such as fertilizers and energy, creates production difficulties for farmers and threatens to drive up food prices, affecting food affordability and access. Higher input prices increase production costs and, ultimately, inflation. This may affect food security and increase (food) poverty. The paper concludes that increasing food aid, ensuring a stable fertilizer supply, imposing an energy price cap, initiating a farmer support package, switching to renewable energy sources for cultivation, changing individual food behaviors, lifting trade restrictions, and political stability can safeguard food security pillars and strengthen the resilience of the European food system.
Keywords: food security; food security pillars; food supply; food; energy; conflict; Russia; Ukraine; war (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/4745/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/4745/ (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:4745-:d:1090294
Access Statistics for this article
Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu
More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager (indexing@mdpi.com).