Crop switch worsens global food price crisis

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Source: CCTV.com | 05-03-2008 17:17

The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food has warned that the global food crisis is worsening. At least 100-million people are affected by the crisis. Dr. Olivier De Schutter is part of a high level task force created to tackle the global food crisis. He said on Friday that the current situation has forced a five to ten year loss on poverty reduction strategies.

Director-General Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Jacques Diouf (L-R), U.N.  Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and World Bank President Robert Zoellick attend a news conference in Bern April 29, 2008. U.N. agencies and the World Bank will set up a task force on food to deal with the unprecedented rise in global food prices.(Xinhua/ Reuters Photo)

Rising prices and funding shortages have forced the UN to stop providing emergency food aid to some of those in need. A UN official says more than 13-percent of the 750,000 Palestinian refugees it feeds in Gaza have had to be cut off. And the skyrocketing costs of staple foods have also sparked sometimes violent protests in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia.