Developing world leaders urge action on food crisis

By Lesley Wroughton

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Developing world leaders said on Tuesday that escalating food costs were exacting a heavy toll on the poor and called for global action to reverse the trend, which threatens to undermine economic growth.

The impact of higher global food prices was raised by leaders in speeches to the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering, where delegates are assessing how countries are faring in reaching U.N. goals to halve global poverty by 2015.

"The current food crisis is a heavy burden and poses many new challenges," Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana said.

He blamed the rise in food prices on subsidies for farmers in rich industrial nations that discourage farm production in developing countries.

"We are in a very difficult situation and are dependent on the global marketplace to feed our people because our agricultural output is so low," he said. "With commodity prices soaring we cannot afford the basic food items needed to survive."

Ravalomanana said African countries, in particular, would be unable to break the cycle of poverty if food prices remained high.

While prices of some staple foods have declined by around 8 percent from their peaks in June, they are still 44 percent above 2006 levels. The World Bank has warned that 100 million more people could be pushed deeper into poverty by soaring food and fuel prices, which have pushed up fertilizer costs.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the United Nation's 192 member states that in a single year, staple foods that feed half of the world more than doubled in price.

He urged rich donor nations to fulfill their promises of aid to poor countries struggling to cope with higher prices.

Meetings of officials on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly have focused on ways to address the food crisis, with international development and aid agencies seeking funding to boost local food prices in developing countries.

Agricultural sectors in many developing countries have suffered from underinvestment for years as prices remained low and supplies ample. But demand has grown with the increase in production of crop-based fuels, droughts in key agricultural producing areas and a rise in living standards in wealthier Asia.

Some countries have turned to food-export bans and price controls to deal with increasing food prices.

"The developing world is at a tipping point," Philippines President Gloria Arroyo told the General Assembly. "In the Philippines we feel the pain of high prices of food, fuel and rice."

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said while food prices have risen around the globe, its impact was most severe in developing countries where most of the world's poor lived.

"The continued rise in food prices has national security implications for most developing nations," said Kibaki.