UN Says Soaring Prices Leave Poor Hungry

Many of the world’s poorest people are unable to get enough food because of soaring prices partly caused by the use of food crops to produce biofuels, the head of the U.N. food agency said.

“We’re seeing more people hungry and at greater numbers than before,” Josette Sheeran, executive director of the Rome-based World Food Program, said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press.
Higher oil prices are contributing to steeper food prices by boosting transportation costs, and severe weather is also hitting many countries and hurting crop output, she said.

“We’re seeing many people being priced out of the food markets for the first time,” said Sheeran, who was at U.N. headquarters for a General Assembly debate on global warming.

“For the world’s most vulnerable, it’s extremely urgent,” she added.

The WFP provides food aid around the globe, and Sheeran said the amount of food the agency can afford to buy for hungry children is down 40 percent from just five years ago.

One of the problems is the drive to use corn, soybeans, sugar cane and other crops to produce biofuels, which are seen as a cleaner and cheaper way to meet soaring energy needs than greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. That has led to less grain being available for food, driving up prices for basic foods in many countries.

Associated Press