By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - A "silent tsunami" unleashed by costlierfood threatens 100 million people, the United Nations said onTuesday, but views differed as to how to stop it.
The Asian Development Bank said there was enough food to goround, and the key was to help the poor afford it. It saidAsian governments which have curbed food exports wereover-reacting.
In London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain wouldseek changes to EU biofuels targets if it was shown thatplanting crops for fuel was driving up food prices -- a dayafter the bloc stood by its plans to boost biofuel use.
The government also pledged $900 million (452 millionpounds) to help the U.N. World Food Programme alleviateimmediate problems and address longer-term solutions to "helpput food on the table for nearly a billion people going hungryacross the world".
The World Food Programme, whose head Josette Sheeran tookpart in a meeting of experts Brown called on Tuesday to discussthe crisis, said a "silent tsunami" threatened to plunge over100 million people on every continent into hunger.
"This is the new face of hunger -- the millions of peoplewho were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago butnow are," Sheeran said ahead of the meeting.
"The response calls for large-scale, high-level action bythe global community, focused on emergency and longer-termsolutions."
The WFP said this was the biggest challenge in its 45-yearhistory.
Riots in poor Asian and African countries have followedsteep rises in food prices caused by many factors -- dearerfuel, bad weather, rising disposable incomes boosting demandand the conversion of land to grow crops to be turned intobiofuel.
"The era of cheap food is over," said Rajat Nag, managingdirector general of the Asian Development Bank.
"MASS MURDER"
Rice from Thailand, the world's top exporter, has more thandoubled this year but Nag urged Asian governments not todistort markets with export curbs, and instead use fiscalmeasures to help the poor.
"We want to temper what we think is a bit of anover-reaction. There is still enough supply," he said.
India and Vietnam have limited exports, hoping to tameprices at home -- while goading them higher abroad.
"Banning of exports is no different from hoarding at anational level," Nag said.
The comments from ADB echoed recent statements by theInternational Monetary Fund and the United Nations, urgingcountries to ensure more funds in the hands of the poor to buyfood, instead of resorting to protectionist trade barriers.
Other aid officials have used more dramatic language.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said dearer foodrisked wiping out progress on cutting poverty and his specialrapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said rises wereleading to "mass murder".
Brown raised further doubts about the wisdom of using cropsto help produce fuel, an idea whose recent popularity in theUnited States and Europe has been dented by fears it harms theenvironment and makes food dearer.
"We need to look closely at the impact on food prices andthe environment of different production methods and to ensurewe are more selective in our support (for biofuels)," he said.
"If our UK review shows that we need to change ourapproach, we will also push for change in EU biofuels targets."
The EU's executive Commission on Monday stood by its targetof getting 10 percent of road transport fuel from crops andagricultural waste by 2020.
Brown called for more research into higher-yielding cropvarieties that can withstand harsh climates and for anagricultural revolution in developing countries.
A global trade agreement that opened up markets in richcountries and cut farm subsidies was also needed, he said.
(Written by Richard Meares, edited by Jon Boyle)