Food import costs to the world's poorest nations are set to rise by 40 per cent in 2008 on the previous year, a report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says.

The bill for food imports to poor countries will reach $169bn this year, the Rome-based organisation said on Wednesday.

The overall cost of food is set rising by 53 per cent from 2007, the report says.

"Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854 million people," Hafez Ghanem, the FAO's assistant director-general, said in the report.

"We are facing the risk that the number of hungry will increase by many more millions of people."

Should prices continue to rise at their present rate, by the end of 2008 the annual food import basket for Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) could cost four times as much as it did in 2000.

Rising food prices have led to protests around the world in recent months.

The United Nations say high oil prices, growing demand, bad trade policies, bad weather, panic buying and speculation, are among the reasons for a rise in the cost of food.

Social impact

Olivier de Schutter, UN rapporteur on the right to food, told Al Jazeera that food import bills for developing nations had increased 'significantly' since 2006.

"[The import bill rises] add up to the increases in the price of oil, which of course is necessary for the payment of transportation costs of food imports," he said.

"Certain states are doing quite well; developing social safety nets, providing cash to the poorest sectors of the population or in developing food stamps programmes, such as in the Phillippines and India.

"Other countries have immense difficulties in insulating their populations from these skyrocketing prices."

The FAO report also said that the cost of rice, which has soared in recent months, may drop as new crops are harvested around the world.

But it said that prices will remain high at least until October or November, when harvests from paddy fields reach the market.

Some nations, including the Phillippines, have suspended rice exports to allows its own people to gain access to the staple food.

"One thing is to say prices will come down, which is already happening for many products," Abdolreza Abbassian, an FAO economist, said on Wednesday.

"Another is to say they will be low. No, they won't be low."

The FAO report forecasts record output of cereals in 2008, although prices throughout the year will remain volatile owing to tight markets.

And it says international prices for oilseed has climbed to record levels amid reduced supply growth and increased demand.

Meat output is also predicted by the FAO to rise throughout this year, even though the cost of animal feed is increasing.

Economic growth across the world is fuelling meat production in many developing countries, but the demand for meat has diverted staple crops from people to animals, hitting poor countries.

Potato production

The FAO also said in its report that potato production in developing countries could rise by two and three per cent each year over the next decade.

A move by several countries to move towards potatoes as a staple food is considered to be one of the reasons why production of the vegetable is rising.

Although conditions for food production are favourable, the report says, a drop in prices for agriculture commodities will only be limited during the 2008/2009 season because food stocks need to be replenished.

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FAO says more than 800 million people face food deprivation amid rising prices [Reuters]

Al-Jazeera