Both United Nations and ad hoc regional cooperation initiatives are underway, focused on the crisis of agriculture and food, under conditions of scarcities, price hikes and disruptions in fertilizer, chemicals, and fuel, from the ongoing blockade in the Persian Gulf. It is made worse by widespread Western sanctions, and from pre-existing problems in agri-food systems. For example, ASEAN is activating. At the ending of its 48th Summit May 8 in Cebu, the Philippines, leaders endorsed boosting cooperation on energy and food security, including setting up an ASEAN regional energy stockpile, and food reserve. “We needed it last month…. Forget about next month…. We needed it yesterday,” declared ASEAN 2026 host Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos.
The latest UN world update is from March 19, “Global Agrifood Implications of the 2026 Conflict in the Middle East.”
The crisis, in its simplest terms, is that the world’s population of 8.3 billion get over half their daily calories from only three staple grains: corn (maize), wheat, and rice, whose volume at present is insufficient, and heading lower fast without proper fertilizer. Other crops and foods, likewise. A May 7, 2026 illustrated research treatment of this is published by Cornell University.
Mediterranean Basin. The Rome Coalition for Fertilizer Access and Food Security was launched May 7 by Italy and Croatia, arising out of a meeting of more than 40 nations and groups of the Mediterranean Basin, centered on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and core MED9++group (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, started in 2014). FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, addressing the May 7 meeting, said, “We meet at a moment of profound strain. This is not only a geopolitical crisis, but also a disruption at the core of the global agrifood system.” He stressed that, “the crop calendar cannot be postponed,” referring to timing and volume of fertilizers, water, etc.
