Global Journal of Human Social Science, F: Political Science, Volume 22 Issue 5

For example, als o Saudi Arabia o pened its huge market for chicken and grain for Russian imports which now account for 10 % of Saudi Arabia’s grain imports, mostly barley. Putin’s leitmotif apparently was: all over Africa, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific countries, the Far East, the shortest and easiest way to satisfy your need is through supplies from Russia, i.e. not just ‘oil and Kalashnikovs’ as in the olden days of the Soviet Republic. Last, but not least, Russia gained an advantage over competing producers because of economic, political and environmental and climate change that made life more difficult for some of its main rivals. For example, US grain producers had one of their worst seasons in 2019 due to low margins and the trade war with China. Many American companies that previously relied on state support went bankrupt when it was removed and as world market prices dropped. Yet, in Russia, climate change opened up new frontiers for more agricultural usage of land in the north with the melting of permafrost. This, apparently offset droughts in the south, at least to a certain extent. Regarding its landmass, Russia practised rather extensive agriculture without high inputs of fertiliser and chemicals but emphasized bio food production. Thus, it could respond to buyers growing demand for ecological food production (Astrasheuskaya, 2021). V. eu ’s A lternatives for using R ussian and U krainian W heat Within the EU, France is the largest producer and exporter of wheat. Inside Western Europe, Britain is the EU's third-largest producer. Up to Brexit, EU wheat exporting countries tended to compete for similar markets and France was the largest exporter to most of the UK’s wheat trading partners (Dry Bulk, 2017). Source: Dry Bulk, 2017 Graph 15: Wheat production quantity of France, Germany and the UK, 2007 to 2016 At least for consumers in EU member countries, a simple and effective solution for lacking wheat from the Ukraine and Russia would be available. According to Brussels, an 8 % reduction in the use of cereals for animal feed in the EU would save enough wheat to make up for the expected deficit (Greenpeace European Unit, 2022). However, this apparently is no short-time fix for all sorrows. To change consumer habits takes a lot of persuading and time, as well as restructuring the agricultural industry that up to now prefers high profits from meat production. Enforcing the polluter pays principle in the EU against the powerful agricultural lobby would be a lengthy and arduous task. As usual, Brussels followed the line of least resistance. In March 2022, the EU Commission, backed by several governments, announced € 500 million in financial aid to farmers facing drawbacks due to the Ukraine war, including special aid for the pork sector to keep prices high. It also wanted to loosen environmental protections in the EU’s common agricultural policy a nd to delay the implementation of key elements of the Green Deal a nd the Farm to Fork Strategy (Greenpeace European Unit, 2022). In recent years, the European environmentally © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue V Version I 11 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 F Will Putin’s Ukraine War Provoke Famine and Upheaval in Africa ?