UN Blames Biofuels for Rising Costs

Ziegler said that this added to financial speculation adding that the International Monetary Fund's policies to spur exports to reduce external debt have led to a deterioration of subsistence agriculture.

In the past year, the price of food has increased by 50 percent, particularly prices for wheat, corn, rice and soy. Bolivia, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have been the most affected in Latin America, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Countries are now scrambling to take urgent measure to offset the effects of the crisis, especially to avoid shortages.

Brazil, leader in sugarcane-based ethanol production, suspended the exports of rice. Bolivia prohibited the export of cooking oil to lower domestic prices and ensure an internal supply.

Agriculture ministers from the Venezuelan-led ALBA initiative — Bolivarian Alternative for Peoples of Our America — Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Nicaragua and Venezuela — along with those from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and the Dominican Republic met in Nicaragua in late April, and proposed the implementation of a regional plan to avoid food shortages. The ministers said some measures would be increasing production of rice, beans, corn and sorghum, the creation of a regional seed producing network, joint imports of farming supplies and improvements in production and financing.

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