Sir, – News reports leave us in little doubt of the human and environmental costs of the latest outbreak of geopolitical violence in the Middle East.
Global markets plunged almost immediately as a direct result of the threat that the war posed to shipping through the region. In months to come we will see the terrible human cost of this conflict being borne by millions of households who live far from this conflict, in sub-Saharan Africa.
For small-scale farmers in Africa the disruption to shipping through the Straits of Hormuz will mean not only spiralling fuel and production costs, as the supply of essential fertilisers that they need at planting time has also been choked off.
Even if peace returns quickly to the Middle East, there will be a price being paid many months from now – in diminished yields and increased levels of hunger – by families who live far from the conflict zone. – Yours, etc,
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NIAMH DE LOUGHRY,
Chief executive,
Self Help Africa,
Talbot Street,
Dublin 1.
