BEIJING, April 23 -- A "silent tsunami" unleashed by costlier food threatens 100 million people, the United Nations said Tuesday, but views differed as to how to stop it.

The Asian Development Bank said there was enough food to go round, and the key was to help the poor afford it. It said Asian governments which have curbed food exports were over-reacting.
In London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain would seek changes to EU biofuels targets if it was shown that planting crops for fuel was driving up food prices - a day after the bloc stood by its plans to boost biofuel use.
Britain also pledged 900 million U.S. dollars to help the UN World Food Programme alleviate immediate problems and address longer-term solutions to "help put food on the table for nearly a billion people going hungry across the world."



The World Food Programme, whose head Josette Sheeran took part in a meeting of experts Brown called Tuesday to discuss the crisis, said a "silent tsunami" threatened to plunge over 100 million people on every continent into hunger.

"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," Sheeran said ahead of the meeting.
"The response calls for large-scale, high-level action by the global community, focused on emergency and longer-term solutions."
The WFP said this was the biggest challenge in its 45-year history. Riots in poor Asian and African countries have followed steep rises in food prices caused by many factors - dearer fuel, bad weather, rising disposable incomes boosting demand and the conversion of land to grow crops to be turned into biofuel.
"The era of cheap food is over," said Rajat Nag, managing director general of the Asian Development Bank.
Rice from Thailand, the world's top exporter, has more than doubled this year but Nag urged Asian governments not to distort markets with export curbs, and instead use fiscal measures to help the poor.
"We want to temper what we think is a bit of an over-reaction. There is still enough supply," he said.
India and Vietnam have limited exports, hoping to tame prices at home - while goading them higher abroad.
"Banning of exports is no different from hoarding at a national level," Nag said.
The comments from the ADB echoed statements by the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations, urging countries to ensure more funds in the hands of the poor to buy food, instead of resorting to protectionist trade barriers.
Other aid officials have used more dramatic language.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said dearer food risked wiping out progress on cutting poverty and his special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said rises were leading to "mass murder."
Brown raised further doubts about the wisdom of using crops to help produce fuel, an idea whose recent popularity in the U.S. and Europe has been dented by fears it harms the environment and makes food dearer.
"We need to look closely at the impact on food prices and the environment of different production methods and to ensure we are more selective in our support (for biofuels)," he said.
"If our UK review shows that we need to change our approach, we will also push for change in EU biofuels targets."
The EU's executive Commission on Monday stood by its target of getting 10 percent of road transport fuel from crops and agricultural waste by 2020.
Brown called for more research into higher-yielding crop varieties that can withstand harsh climates and for an agricultural revolution in developing countries.
A global trade deal that opened up markets in rich countries was also needed, he said.
(Source: China Daily/Agencies)





PANAMA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) said the high prices of grain like corn, wheat and rice in Latin America will result in an increase of the number of the poor, local media reported Sunday.

"This represents a dramatic situation for many people," Jose Luis Machinea, the ECLA executive secretary told "Panama America" daily.



DHAKA, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Experts at a seminar in Dhaka said on Monday that Bangladesh needs to set a target to produce some 32 billion tons of rice for fiscal year 2008-09 (July 2008-June 2009) to ensure its food security.

Addressing the seminar, Food Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali and Agriculture Adviser Dr CS Karim of the caretaker government said it was possible to achieve such a target though it is a bit ambitious, private news agency UNB reported.



MANILA, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government is drawing up an emergency scheme to offer the poor household the access to the limited government-subsidized rice by issuing out "access cards", national newspaper the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Monday.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, through local government units, eyes to give the priority to families earning a monthly income of 4,500 (109 U.S. dollars) and below, but it is still not clear how many "access cards" will be issued.



JAKARTA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's logistic agency (BULOG) will not export rice this year even though the government has issued a rule allowing the agency to export the commodity, Director of the agency named only Mustofa said here Tuesday.

Despite the high rice price in international market, BULOG would put a priority on the domestic demand, Mustofa said.

BANGKOK, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's rice farmers have began stalling on the sale of their rice reserves in hand owing to the rice price further surging, Thai media reported Monday.
Continued increasing rice prices in the Thai market have prompted numerous farmers and middlemen to slow, stall or altogether stop selling paddy rice to millers, a move which eventually affects exporters, according to Thai News Agency.