A government minister recently announced that a Yemeni delegation will travel to India the next week in an effort to obtain wheat for the war-torn nation, whose crucial food stocks are running low.
Yemen’s commerce and industry minister, Mohammed al-Ashwal, told Reuters that the group will work to seal a deal to import wheat from India.
According to him, Yemen’s current strategic food stockpiles would last through the end of August.
India prohibited wheat exports in May as local prices rose and production decreased. Since then, it has granted exclusions to specific nations.
The implementation of the agreement with the Indian government about the easing of the wheat export embargo to Yemen has advanced significantly, according to Ashwal.
If a contract was signed, it was not immediately apparent how much wheat Yemen was requesting from India or when it could be delivered.
India’s export embargo and the disruption of Russian and Ukrainian exports brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine run the risk of escalating Yemen’s famine problem and accelerating the country’s food price inflation, which has quadrupled in certain regions over the past two years.
The Houthis, who get support from Iran, have been at the centre of a seven-year struggle in Yemen that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced millions into circumstances of near-famine.
Humanitarian help has already started to dwindle, with some relief organisations being forced to reduce or cease providing food, health care, and other necessities. The economy and basic services have essentially failed.