$30 billion will be spent over the next 15 months, to address global food insecurity triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine, announced the World Bank on Wednesday

The financing aims to encourage food and fertilizer production, enhance food systems, facilitate greater trade, and support vulnerable households and producers, according to a statement from the bank.

Noting that food price increase are having “devastating effects” on the poorest and most vulnerable, World Bank Group President David Malpass said: “Countries should make concerted efforts to increase the supply of energy and fertilizer, help farmers increase plantings and crop yields, and remove policies that block exports and imports, divert food to biofuel, or encourage unnecessary storage.”

The statement said that the bank is preparing a $12 billion worth of new projects for the next 15 months to support agriculture, social protection to cushion the effects of higher food prices, and water and irrigation projects, with the majority of resources going to Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and South Asia.