UN sets up food crisis task force /bbc
 Global rice prices have risen by more than 90% in the past year |
The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is setting up a task force to tackle the global food crisis.
Mr Ban said the world faced "widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale" because of soaring food prices.
He said the priority was to feed the hungry by closing a $755m (£380m) funding gap for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) this year.
He urged donor countries to make more money available now.
The WFP believes 100 million people are currently going short of food.
It says only 62% of the $755m it needs to feed them has been pledged so far, and, of that, only $18m (£9m) has actually been received.
 |  We must make every effort to support those farmers so that in the coming year we do not see even more severe food shortages  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon  |
"We consider that the dramatic escalation in food prices worldwide has evolved into an unprecedented challenge of global proportions that has become a crisis for the world's most vulnerable, including the urban poor," the UN said in a statement after a meeting of agency heads in the Swiss capital Berne.
"The challenge is having multiple effects with its most serious impact unfolding as a crisis for the most vulnerable," it went on.
The prices of staple foods including rice, grain, oil and sugar are all at least 50% higher than they were this time last year.
Supporting farmers
The task force, chaired by Mr Ban, will be made up of the heads of UN agencies and the World Bank.
Mr Ban said it was essential to support farmers in poor countries.
"In addition to increasing food prices, we see at the same time farmers in developing countries planting less, producing less, due to the escalating cost of fertilizer and energy," said Mr Ban.
"We must make every effort to support those farmers so that in the coming year we do not see even more severe food shortages."
In the medium term, the UN will offer $200m to farmers in the worst affected countries to boost food production, and it is calling for a further $1.7bn to help countries with a food deficit to buy seeds.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says in the long term the UN wants an end to what it calls trade distorting agricultural subsidies, and measures to address the damage to food production caused by climate change.
The task force can recommend and formulate a strategy, but the solution lies in the world wide campaign and efforts at every country level
The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, who also attended the meeting in Berne, urged countries not to use export bans to protect food stocks.
"These controls encourage hoarding, drive up prices and hurt the poorest people around the world who are struggling to feed themselves," he said.
In a statement after the meeting, the World Bank said that it would double its lending for agriculture in Africa over the next year.
It said it was also considering providing quicker and more flexible financing for poor countries.
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