Risk of global food shortage from Iran War
5/1/202647 min
The interruption to supplies of fertiliser and its key ingredients due to the war in Iran could cost up to 10 billion meals a week globally and will hit poorest countries hardest, according to the boss of one of the world's biggest fertiliser producers. Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Yara, told the BBC that hostilities in the Gulf, which have blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, are jeopardising global food production.
Also in the programme: Ukraine has been stepping up its campaign against Russia's oil industry; and is fish fraud affecting one of Britain's national dishes?
(Picture: Workers carry fertiliser bags to be mixed with water at a farm's irrigation centre. Credit: REUTERS/Rula Rouhana/File Photo)
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Hannah Gelbart0:03
[instrumental music] Can one country steal another country's rain clouds? This conspiracy theory has been repeated by politicians. It's gone viral online, and it's tapped into fears of water shortages in the Middle East. So where does the idea come from, and is it scientifically possible? I'm Hannah Gelbart. Join me on What in the World?, a daily podcast from the BBC World Service. We cover news and trending topics in less than fifteen minutes. You can find us wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
James Menendez· Host0:34
[rain falling] [upbeat jingle] Hello, and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm James Menendez, and our top story today is the war in Iran, or rather the stalemate between Washington and Tehran that's becoming ever more entrenched and, in turn, what that stalemate means for the world's ability to feed itself. Both sides are currently blockading the Strait of Hormuz, that crucial waterway for exports out of the Gulf, principally oil and gas, but also shipments of fertilizer. About a third of the world's supply of synthetic or inorganic fertilizer passes through the strait. Its production relies on natural gas, but that's effectively ground to a halt because of the conflict, and that is terrible news for farmers around the world and, by extension, us,