February 2022 saw a paradigm shift in world economies, politics, and resource-management: it saw the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent war that has yet to see end. In the midst of tragedy and turbulence, crisis has become a common language among world leaders and housewives alike; more common, still, is the talk of crisis in Egyptian industry. Egypt has struggled to stay afloat between aggressive inflation and looming water poverty. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only exacerbated this state of scarcity, given Egypt’s reliance on both countries to meet “even half of [its] domestic demand.” For years, Egypt’s agricultural sector has been unable to keep up with a growing population of over 106 million, and a growing need for food. As such, it has turned to subsidized imports in order to maintain affordability and sufficiency. For decades, Egypt has been importing cereal grains and oilseeds from Eastern Europe, namely Ukraine and Russia. The economic habit-turned-necessity has led Egypt to become one of the world’s largest importers of wheat and among the top ten importers of sunflower oil. Eighty-five percent of the country’s wheat comes from…
A Foreign Famine? Egypt’s Food Crisis in the Wake of the Ukraine War
September 30, 2022
