MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World Bank warns about rising food prices and poverty

World Bank President Robert Zoellick called Thursday for a “New Deal” on global food policy to address hunger and emergency situations in developing countries such as Haiti because of rising food prices.

The most immediate priority is to fill a 500 million US dollars gap in the UN World Food Program to address emergency situations, he said, but added that longer-term solutions are also needed. Spiraling basic food prices have caused protests, in some cases violent, in such distant countries as Pakistan, Mexico, Egypt and Haiti, where several people have been killed in street rioting. "In United States and Europe this last year we've concentrated on the increase of gasoline prices", said Zoellick adding that "while some are concerned about filling the tank of their cars, many others in the rest of the world are fighting to fill their stomachs". "We must make agriculture a priority" Zoellick said in a briefing ahead of this weekend's meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington. "A lot of the opportunities for increasing productivity are in the developing world," he said, adding that a "green revolution" is possible in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank plans to increase its agricultural lending to Africa by nearly two-fold next year to 800 million US dollars, and Zoellick is pushing for sovereign wealth funds to invest 30 billion US dollars in the continent. Zoellick estimated that the effects of the current food crisis in the reduction of poverty levels globally will represent seven lost years. "This therefore is not only an immediate emergency, but also a mid term emergency". The World Bank president called on all country members to complete the Doha round of trade discussions in the framework of the World Trade Organization which should help open markets for developing countries. Zoellick also welcomed a letter sent by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week to world leaders to take action on world hunger and food prices. "I've been very pleased that a number of world leaders seem to be sharing and seizing the moment," said Zoellick.