Food as a Weapon of War
Warfare
History Hit
4.5 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2022
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Russia has been accused of using food as a weapon of war in Ukraine, pushing up to 49 million people into famine.
Further afield, Putin's war has affected food supply and prices around the world - as the 'breadbasket' region is vitally important to global grain production in particular.
Sadly this is nothing new, as our guest knows all too well. Today James is joined by Oxfam's Marc Cohen to explore the evolving yet ever present relationship between food, famine and warfare.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And the Russia is being accused of using food as a weapon of war, pushing up to 49 million people into famine. |
| 0:26.7 | And this is all because of Putin's aggressive war against Ukraine and its impact |
| 0:31.7 | on global food supply and global prices. |
| 0:35.3 | The key issue is that Russia and Ukraine account for up to 12% of the total calories traded |
| 0:41.5 | worldwide. This is largely through grains and Africa is especially |
| 0:46.4 | affected as some African nations rely on Russia and Ukraine for up to 80% of their food supply. |
| 0:53.0 | I'm your host James Rogers. |
| 0:55.0 | This is the Warfare Podcast. |
| 0:56.8 | And to try and help us understand all of this, we have Mark Cohen on the podcast. |
| 1:01.2 | Now Mark is a senior researcher for aid effectiveness at Oxfam and the fascinating |
| 1:06.4 | thing about Oxfam is that as an organization it was created during the Second World War to help people caught up in the famine caused by that war. |
| 1:16.7 | So I know you're going to find this one truly fascinating, so please go and drop us a five-star |
| 1:19.9 | review on Apple Podcast Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps us to get out there to everyone who loves history. |
| 1:26.5 | But here now is Mark Cohen on the history of food and war. |
| 1:32.0 | Hi Mark, welcome to the warfare podcast. |
| 1:34.0 | How you doing? |
| 1:35.0 | I'm doing well. |
| 1:36.0 | Thank you very much, James. |
| 1:37.0 | Good to hear. |
| 1:38.0 | Well, thanks so much for taking the time to come on the podcast. |
| 1:40.0 | Because we've all been trans-fixed, almost like we can't look away from the ongoing |
| 1:46.5 | crisis in Ukraine and that's a crisis that is starting to have its impact felt closer to home with energy prices and this ongoing worry |
... |
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