InterRegional for Strategic Analysis

Thousands of farmers across several European countries have recently taken their tractors to the streets to protest worsening living conditions. These protests came to a head with a blockade near Paris that began on 29 January 2024, while around 1200 tractors blockaded the streets of Brussels during an EU summit held on 1 February 2024. Farmers protesting across Europe carried placards with similar slogans, although there were also demands specific to certain regions.

Why Farmers’ Protests are Expanding in Europe

The Tractor Uprising:

Cereal supply chains have experienced major challenges over the past few years as a result of environmental, economic, and geopolitical crises, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. These crises have generated immense pressures on cereal production in different areas of the globe, especially on rice yields. This has had major ramifications for Asia. Rice is the main source of sustenance for more than half of the world’s population. Asia produces more than 90% of the world’s rice, and rice accounts for more than a quarter of the continent’s caloric intake. The UN estimates that the average Asian consumes 77 kilograms of rice per year, which is more than average African, European, and American consumption combined. Hundreds of thousands of Asian farmers depend on rice cultivation, which is facing numerous challenges. According to various reports, Asia—and the world as a whole— is likely to face a severe food crisis unless governments intervene quickly to identify solutions.

How Can Governments Deal with the Global Rice Crisis?

Reduced Yields:

Soheir El Sherbiny‏‏

Since the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the world has been facing enormous threats to food security and its capacity to meet peoples’ needs. Russia and Ukraine are two of the most important wheat exporters in the world, and the war and economic sanctions imposed on Russia have prevented the two countries from maintaining the same export volume of wheat and other key food commodities. This now poses a grave threat for global food security. As a result, other countries have accelerated measures to increase their arable land and develop self-sufficiency to ensure food security. These steps will also help countries to mitigate any domestic unrest that arises as a result of food shortages and price spikes. It remains to be seen whether these countries will be able to achieve self-sufficiency through increasing agricultural production.

Agriculture

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