Asia | Banyan

Russia’s war is causing hunger in Asia

Unhelpful short-term fixes are not the answer to spiking food prices

MAHN TUN LYNN says he has thought of little but food since Myanmar’s armed forces mounted their brutal coup in February last year. First, from Yangon, the commercial capital, he used his skills from years running an import-export business to get staples to the resistance groups springing up around the country. When, late last year, hunger began to gnaw even at him, he fled the country. He now shelters in Thailand, by the banks of a river that marks the two countries’ border. Everyone in his makeshift camp knows how conflict disrupts the cycle of sowing seed and harvesting crops. When bullets fly, ricebowls grow emptier.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Food fight”

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From the May 7th 2022 edition

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