Food prices are rising fast, placing some basic commodities out of reach for a growing portion of the population.

In particular, the volatility of food and commodity prices, including petroleum prices, is seriously denting the financing capacity of many poor countries.

Prices of food, even staple foods, have shot up beyond the reach of average citizens.

WFP has also implemented a pilot agricultural project targeting 500 small farmers in the southern Gaza Strip, whereby food commodities have been distributed to beneficiaries against a cash payment representing less than 30 per cent of the local market value of the donated commodities.

235. The high cost of vegetables, and the adverse effects of commercial food advertisements in the media inhibit dietary diversification, through consumption of locally available food items, to improve iron and vitamin A content in the diet.

In 1979 the scheme was further modified by a switch to a system of food stamps (denominated in monetary terms) and by bringing certain food prices more into line with world prices.

Use of the 1991 local producer prices from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ) instead of the market prices from FAO and the Iranian Ministry of Commerce.

(b) International procurement of strategic food commodities

Food prices have increased by 400 per cent.

Minimum producer prices, which were eliminated for food crops (1996) and cash crops (1997), have been replaced by reference prices.

WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA Food prices have in many cases surpassed the peak levels reached in July 2008. At that time, food price increases were attributed to growing global demand for food commodities, a major decline in the value of the US dollar, crop failures in some parts of the world, and biofuels.

Rising energy costs have directly affected prices for basic necessities and food.

Imports consisted mostly of food, machinery and fuel.

Commodity prices are like this.

Can Food Prices Be Stabilized?

Tons of food gets plowed under the ground because there s so much of it farmers can t get the prices they want. Tons of cheap food (corn, for instance) is used to create more expensive food (like steak).

In the formulation of agricultural price policies a balance should be struck between food self sufficiency, surplus extraction and price incentives and income security for producers.

(b) Liberalizing food prices and restrictive policies with respect to incomes

Why Are Commodity Prices Falling?

It's because of the way the government commodifies food, and the cheap corn and cheap soy that are pushed into our food supply that makes these non nutrient foods really, really cheap.

There is also the issue of the so called reserve price (the highest price a buyer is willing to pay for a good or service). The reserve price places a cap on how high commodity prices will go, as it is the price at which demand destruction occurs (consumers are no longer willing or able to purchase the good or service).

Possibly most clearly visible are impacts on prices, with studies showing that the presence of hypermarkets results in drops in prices for dried food, household goods and personal care, thus increasing the population's disposable income.

The continued high prices of food could strain the already low purchasing power of the chronically food insecure population.

34. In 1998, some 1.2 million Afghans will benefit from WFP s total allocation of 106,590 tons of food commodities.

There has been a steady effort to arrive at market based prices for energy commodities, and prices of some of them (notably oil products) have for some years been derived from the world market price.

Now, the price of food, many people complain about, but in fact, the price of food is going down, and that's odd because in fact, consumers are not paying for the true cost of food.

Food security went beyond the problem of production, since it involved access and distribution, including international trade in food and other commodities.

This situation illustrates the Government apos s determination to ensure that food is available in a sufficiently safe supply to allow households access to an adequate diet according to their needs and to discourage any attempt at speculation designed to create shortages leading to illegal price rises.

The recent sharp increase in the prices of rice, fish and vegetables has caused a further deterioration in the food situation.

While food security remains a national problem, the production of food commodities has increased. This has reduced the need for food aid which was previously provided to the general population.

All regions should pay close attention to the daily necessities such as grain, oil, meat, poultry, egg, vegetable, milk and salt, as well as the market and price changes of local residents festive consumption of special products, and strengthen price monitoring and analysis and early warning.

Many rural households are fragile in that they cannot cope with seasonal fluctuations of food availability and of food prices.

The prices of primary commodities had declined against the prices of manufactures, especially during the 1980s.

On the fully commercial side, the mobile revolution is creating a logistics revolution in farm to retail marketing. Farmers and food retailers can connect directly through mobile phones and distribution hubs, enabling farmers to sell their crops at higher farm gate prices and without delay, while buyers can move those crops to markets with minimum spoilage and lower prices for final consumers.

Unstable prices for commodities were a serious issue.

WFP will provide the returnees with a three month food ration as well as non food items.

CAMBRIDGE The prices of hydrocarbons, minerals, and agricultural commodities have been on a veritable roller coaster. While commodity prices are always more variable than those for manufactured goods and services, commodity markets over the last five years have seen extraordinary, almost unprecedented, volatility.

213. In 1942 Sri Lanka adopted a food ration and subsidy scheme through which sufficient quantities of food were distributed at subsidized rates among the entire population.

In addition, WFP has injected over 10 million into the economies of Gaza and the West Bank, by local purchases of wheat flour, olive oil and other food commodities.

Under the food stamp scheme only households whose declared income was less than a specified level were to receive food stamps, which they could use to buy basic food made available at authorized shops at non subsidized prices.

The G 20 s efforts will culminate in the Cannes Summit in November. But, when it comes to specific policies, caution will be very much in order, for there is a long history of measures aimed at reducing commodity price volatility that have ended up doing more harm than good.

The prices of oil and many primary commodities have slipped.

Global grain reserves were below the level considered necessary to guarantee world food security, prices has skyrocketed and low income developing countries with food shortages had been forced to pay between 3.4 and 4 billion more in recent times for their grain imports.

In the short term, links between trade expansion and poverty reduction work through prices, returns to factors of production, availability of public goods and food security.

Iran uses market prices provided by FAO and the Iranian Ministry of Commerce.