
Food riots have erupted in countries including Haiti, Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Haiti in the past month
In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to avoid food being seized from fields and warehouses
Prices in these countries for foodstuffs such as rice, wheat, sorghum and maize have doubled
Causes of crisis range from financial speculation on food commodities, desertification, population increases, China and India's economic growth and use of grains to make biofuels
Cost of funding projects enabling governments to tackle food crisis could be up to $1.7bn
However world cereal production in 2008 is projected to increase by 2.6 per cent to a record 2,164 million tonnes
Source: United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
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