Global food prices increase in first quarter of 2012, World Bank report says

"Global food prices again rose in the first quarter [of 2012] on the back of higher oil prices, putting millions of people at risk of not having enough to eat," according to a report released Wednesday by the World Bank, Agence France-Presse reports (4/25). The index showed the cost of food rose eight percent between December 2011 and March 2012 after four months of decline at the end of last year, Reuters notes, adding, "Even after the latest rise, food prices remain one percent below a year ago and six percent below the February 2011 historical peak, the World Bank said" (4/25). According to the Los Angeles Times, "In Africa, prices are especially steep due to the continent's dependence on imports as well as trade restrictions between nations, hoarding, civil unrest and bad weather" (Hsu, 4/25). "The World Bank said it was hard to predict whether the surge in prices this year would lead to a new global food crisis since there is no mechanism to identify the onset of a global food crisis," Reuters writes (4/25). A World Bank Group press release describes how the organization "is helping to put food first" (4/25).