The world faces a worsening global food crisis as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on and the West should act accordingly, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis told Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer during an episode of Influencers (full interview above).

"We are edging into serious global food security issues," Stavridis said. "And that's not just a humanitarian concern. That can lead to civil unrest, waves of refugees, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East are very pragmatic reasons for us to avoid that. As well as the obvious and overarching one of avoiding humans starving to death."

Russia's blockade of ports on the Black Sea prevents Ukrainian wheat exports, which are imported by Middle East countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya, and Somalia.

Admiral Stavridis, author of the new book "To Risk it All," added that action would need to be taken at some point.

"That grain needs to get out of Ukraine," the retired four-star U.S. naval officer said. "It's not going to go by land, there's too much of it. You've got to move bulk things in the world and the world trade — 95% of global trade moves by the sea."

Wheat prices (ZW=F) surged after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Futures are currently up 41.5% year to date, reaching levels not seen since 2008. (And that is not the only commodity flow being strained: Ukraine is also an exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.)

The U.S. and its allies, according to Stravidis, should consider helping secure food shipments out of Ukrainian ports.

"This blockade is illegal," he said. "And by the way, it's not being conducted in Russian territorial seas. This blockade is blockading Ukrainian waters and international waters. The United States and all of our allies, we have a vested interest in keeping those high seas freedoms. So you could conduct a Maritime escort operation to get the grain out, going through strictly Ukrainian and international waters."