USAID to give $68 mil to UN World Food Program for 150,000 mt Ukrainian wheat

The US Agency for International Development, or USAID, said Aug. 17 that it would provide $68 million for the UN's World Food Program to buy, move and store 150,000 mt of wheat from Ukraine.

The funds would allow the UN's second significant purchase of Ukrainian grain since the country's main export ports were closed at the end of February, when Russia invaded. The closure of those ports pushed up global prices and left at least 13 ships stranded and laden with some 600,000 mt of wheat and corn. The UN has sought to revive the flow of grain from those ports and brokered a deal at the end of July, which has allowed those stranded ships to sail.

It also bought Ukrainian wheat under the World Food Program at the end of July. On Aug. 16, 23,000 mt of wheat, that was sold as part of this deal, left Ukraine's Pivdennyi port aboard the UN-chartered ship, Brave Commander.

"The sheer scale of the hunger crisis [...] is so immense that this single advance will not solve this crisis," the USAID said in statement on its website. adding that it has spent nearly $7.6 billion responding to the global food security crisis since Feb. 24.