New Delhi, May 11 -- For years, climate campaigners have claimed that our food supply is under grave threat from climate change caused by excessive fossil fuel use. Ironically, the war in West Asia is highlighting that the much bigger food challenge for the world is not having enough access to fossil fuels.

Today, half of all the calories we consume are only possible because they are produced with artificial fertilizers, overwhelmingly from natural gas. Without fossil fuels, half the global population would suffer a severe lack of food.

The conflict in West Asia and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are not just driving up global energy prices. About a quarter of the world's fertilizer normally passes through the strait, and the impasse ...