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MANILA - A senior UN official said Friday there was a global food crisis after meeting the Philippine president to discuss the impact of soaring prices, which have triggered unrest in dozens of countries.
"There is a world food crisis," said Kevin Cleaver, an assistant president in a department of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development, who met with President Gloria Arroyo in Manila.
The Philippines is one of the world's largest rice importers and the government is striving to avoid shortages as worldwide concern grows about sharp increases in food prices.
Cleaver said that "in some 33 countries there is now civil disturbance, food riots caused by food shortages and higher prices. This is one of the subjects we discussed."
Analysts have warned that higher prices could trigger unrest in the Philippines, following rioting in countries such as Haiti and Egypt.
Cleaver said people were suffering because the "price of rice and food has increased and we discussed a little bit what to do about that," adding he and Arroyo had agreed the solution was to ramp up production.
The president has pledged to keep supplies of the staple grain available to every Filipino, drafting in the military to distribute supplies and cracking down on looters and hoarders.
The president said the government had a plan for better irrigation facilities, according to Cleaver.
That would help in the coming year but the shorter-term problem was more difficult to cure, he said.
He added that the world had been taken by surprise because "most people have been complacent," but said governments can take steps to avoid starvation.
Cleaver said the UN agency would finance a US$66 million agricultural and rural development programme for two of the poorest regions in the Philippines.
The International Rice Research Institute warned Friday that rice prices were likely to keep rising for some time as production fails to keep up with soaring demand. - AFP/vm
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