The Iran war is heightening concerns over a looming food crisis in Asia.
Malaysians are stockpiling staples, Central Asia is seeing higher prices for dried goods and vegetables, and farmers in India and Sri Lanka are anxious about fertilizer shipments stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We are praying this war stops because it will not spare us either,” a rice farmer in Punjab said.
Aid groups say the conflict has also hurt their ability to get food to people in need.
Global food systems function as “tightly coupled networks,” where disruptions quickly cascade downstream, an expert wrote in Foreign Policy.
“By the time the effects appear in markets, it will be too late for policymakers to intervene.”