World Bank warns on food poverty

The spiralling cost of staple foods is driving the world's poorest areas into "the danger zone", the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, said yesterday.

Since last June 44 million more people have slipped into poverty, mainly because of rocketing food costs, he warned; this figure is 36 per cent higher than a year ago and is close to the peaks seen in 2008. "We are at a tipping point in terms of food prices," Mr Zoellick said.

"There are nearly a billion undernourished people on our planet."