Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, should create joint food reserves with ​fellow Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) members and former Soviet neighbours to counter the risks to global food security ‌stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, a Senior Russian security official said on Monday.

About half of the world’s food is grown using fertilizer, while one-third of global fertiliser trade used to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow ​shipping lane along Iran’s coast that has been largely closed since the conflict began.

“To ensure food ​security, it is highly important to expand cooperation with friendly countries, primarily the ⁠member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and BRICS, including through the creation of joint food reserves,” ​Alexander Maslennikov, Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, was quoted as saying by domestic news agencies.

Chaired by ​President Vladimir Putin, the Security Council includes top officials and helps shape Kremlin decisions on major national security issues.

Putin is due to meet BRICS member Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto in the Kremlin on Monday with food security likely to feature ​on the agenda.

Maslennikov said the Middle East crisis posed serious risks to global food security. If the ​global fertilizer shortage persists until early summer, yields of major crops could fall by half, he said, fuelling the sharpest ‌rise ⁠in world food inflation in recent years.

He added that the number of hungry people worldwide could rise to a record 673 million.

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the United Nations World Food Programme warned last week that sharp increases in oil, natural gas and fertilizer prices triggered by the war in the Middle East ​will inevitably cause rising ​food prices and food ⁠insecurity.

Russia is a major producer and exporter of fertilizer but lacks the capacity to significantly increase output this year. It is also seeking to raise agricultural ​exports by half by 2030.

Maslennikov said the current situation, while posing risks to ​Russia’s own ⁠food security, also created long-term opportunities for the country’s agricultural producers.

“Russia is in a strong position to increase food exports to the countries of the Middle East, as well as to Asia, Africa and Latin America,” he ⁠said.

Egypt, ​a BRICS member, is the largest importer of Russian wheat, ​while Russia also exports food to China and India, the bloc’s two biggest economies.

The Eurasian Economic Union, led by Russia, also ​includes grain exporter Kazakhstan, as well as Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

–Reuters–