In a letter to Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Brown called for the issue to be made a priority at this July's summit of the Group of Eight, the world's richest nations. Japan will chair the G8 summit in Hokkaido in July.

"Rising food prices threaten to roll back progress we have made in recent years on development," wrote Brown.

"For the first time in decades, the number of people facing hunger is growing. Food prices have risen sharply leading to food riots in several countries," he added.

Copies of the letter were also sent to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

Brown called on all three institutions to work together to tackle the problem.

One of Brown's points was that research was needed to investigate the impact of that producing crops for biofuels rather than food was having on food production.

But on Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected any link between rising food prices and the growth in biofuels, of which his country is the world's biggest exporter.

"Don't tell me biofuels are causing inflation," Lula told reporters during a state visit to the Netherlands.

The growing number of mouths to feed in the world was causing the inflation in food prices, he said. "I ask the whole world to produce more."

France's human rights minister Rama Yade called Thursday for a world conference on the issue.

"Food security is a global challenge," she told France Inter radio. "These riots are a major concern to France."

On Tuesday, European Union Development Commissioner Louis Michel also expressed concern.

"A world food crisis is emerging, less visible than the oil (price) crisis, but with the potential effect of real economic and humanitarian tsunami in Africa," Michel said after meeting African Union Commission chief Jean Ping.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) also warned in a report released Monday that rising food prices were driving up inflation in Africa and posing fresh challenges for central banks there.

Food riots in Haiti this week have left at least five dead and 40 injured in the poorest country in the Americas, where UN peacekeepers have had to intervene to prevent looting.

Thousands demonstrated in the capital Port-au-Prince against rising food prices, which has seen the cost of rice double from 35 dollars (22 euros) to 70 dollars for a 120 pound (55 kilogram) sack.

Workers in landlocked Burkina Faso were on the third day of a general strike Thursday over rising food prices, though unions and the government disputed how many people had actually stopped work.

Earlier this year there were deadly riots over rising food prices in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Mauritania.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday proposed a national policy on food security, as rising prices and shortages cause havoc across Asia.

Analysts in Asia have warned that Bangladesh and the Philippines, where the poor currently spend around 70 percent of their income simply on food, will be among the worst hit.

Inflation has also hit Europe, where in the 12-nation EU eurozone it reached an all-time high of 3.5 percent in March.

The problem has sparked demonstrations and strikes in a number of European countries.

Brown's letter also called for greater access for poor countries to developed countries' markets; help for them to improve crop production; and food aid for the poorest, but without creating a dependency culture.

Japan will host the annual G8 summit on July 7-9. France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States are joined in the G8 by Canada and Russia, with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso also due to attend.

The G8 comprises the seven most industrialised countries and Russia.

burs-mat/jj/rt

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