U.N. Warns of Food Crisis

Sharply rising food prices are sending millions of people deeper into poverty and creating a crisis that threatens economic and political stability around the world, reports The Washington Post.

A combination of factors — including skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices, droughts, increases in demand from third-world countries, and the use of crops for biofuels — has created a $755-million shortfall in the United Nations’ food-program budget, says Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program. She says that the price of a metric ton of rice in parts of Asia has risen from $460 to $1,000 in less than two months.

“This is the new face of hunger — the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are,” Ms. Sheeran says. “The world’s misery index is rising.”

The United States has pledged an additional $200-million and Britain another $60-million in emergency food aid. The food shortages have resulted in riots in Haiti, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, and Senegal, the Post writes.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross says that intense fighting in Iraq’s Sadr City has cut residents off from medical supplies, food, and water, reports CNN.

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