THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RUSSIA'S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE CONTEXT OF THREATS TO GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

Abstract

Currently, threats to food security reach a global scale. To a large extent, this is caused by the full-scale invasion of Russia on the territory of Ukraine and the losses that occurred as a result of the war. In general, before the war, Ukraine supplied 10% of world exports of wheat, more than 15–20% of barley, and more than 50% of sunflower oil. After the Russian invasion, Ukraine restricted the export of some grains. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, due to Ukraine's war with Russia, the number of people with a lack of food will increase by 47 million during the year and will be almost 323 million by the end of the year. First of all, the term food security refers to the availability of food for people without any scarcity, and it is considered that food security is effectively achieved when a person is not afraid of or susceptible to hunger, and is used as a criterion to prevent food shortages or disruptions in the future in a few factors Such factors are considered dangerous, including drought and wars and other problems, if they threaten food security. Absolute food security is defined as the production of food in one country at a level equal to or even exceeding domestic demand and can sometimes be considered to achieve the concept of complete self-sufficiency. Indicators of relative food security relate to the state's ability to produce and supply what the population needs in the form of food in whole or in part. From this we conclude that the concept of food security refers to the need to provide the population with the necessary food products, which may depend on cooperation with other countries or only on self-sufficiency. The Covid-15 pandemic and the war have broken many chains of the global food security system, and as a result, there have been significant disruptions in the uninterrupted supply of food to consumers at reasonable prices. The methodology is based on the analysis of scientific problems according to the nature of the research object, based on such methods of scientific knowledge as direct (empirical) analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, historical method. The results of the study relate to the presentation of the concept of food security and the degree of influence on it by natural disasters and geopolitical conflicts, in particular the war between Russia and Ukraine, the study of individual indicators of Ukrainian exports that affect the food security of some Arab and African countries, as well as the volumes of production and exports in different periods . Such indicators show a brief overview of the importance of Ukraine as a "food-nurse" for some countries and the consequences that will occur if the supply of agricultural products from Ukraine is stopped from both large and small businesses.