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A billion Asians at risk from soaring food prices: ADB

AFP, Madrid
The head of the Asian Development Bank called on Monday for an "immediate response" to soaring food prices, which he said threatened more than a billion Asians with a risk of malnutrition.
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda also warned that the food problem could cut into decades of economic gains in the Asia-Pacific region.
And he announced a special fund to combat climate change and its effects, which he termed a "fundamental threat" to the region.
"These are troubling times for the world economy. On the heels of turmoil in the financial markets and economic slowdown in the US and elsewhere, soaring food prices
are hitting the poor very hard,' he said in an inaugural speech to the ADB's board of governors meeting in Madrid.
"This price surge has a stark human dimension and has greatly affected over a billion people in Asia and the Pacific alone. Their purchasing power has been eroded placing them at a greater risk of hunger and malnutrition."
He said the stocks of food grains were at the lowest levels for decades.
Reduced supplies and increased demand along with the sharp depreciation of the US dollar and trade restrictions by some countries have combined to cause the price surge in recent months. Kuroda said. “The focus must now be on the soaring prices, and our immediate response," he said.
He called for "prudent macroeconomic management" along with targeted income support to protect food entitlements and livelihoods of tlie most vulnerable.
"The absence of such measures coul<| seriously undermine the global fight against poverty and erode the gains of the past decades," he said.
"The AIIB is prepared to respond with immediate financial assistance to relieve fiscal pressure on affected countries," Kuroda said.
The soaring price of basic foods such as rice - the benchmark Thai variety now fetches some 1,000 dollars a tonne, up threefold on a year ago - has led to a supply crunch that is worrying governments wary of popular unrest.
The ADB said in a report released on Monday that developing nations in Asia needed to ensure high agricultural productivity as well as providing immediate relief to shield the poor against rising prices.
"As a majority of the poor in developing Asia live in rural areas and depend on apiculture, higher agricultural growth will raise farm output, reduce prices and raise incomes of poorer farm households," the ADB's Chief Economist Ifral Ali said in the report.
Based in Manila, the ADB is owned by its 67 member countries -48 from the Asia-Pacific region, and 19 from elsewhere around the world.
Since it was established in 1966, the ADB has grown from helping Asian governments develop infrastructure projects to promoting the role of the private sector in develop -
But some critics say its loan conditions unfairly pressure governments to deregulate and privatise agriculture - leading to problems suchastherice supply crunch.
Public Services International, a global federation of unions of public employees, expressed "deep concern about the bank's growing emphasis on privatisation and funding of private sector operations in Asia."
Kuroda said the Climate Change Fund would have an initial contribution from ADB resources of 40 million dollars (26 million euros).
"Climate change is a fundamental threat to achieving Asia's develop -ment objectives, and to life and livelihoods," Kuroda said.
"The Fund will allow a more holistic approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation, including forestry and land use, changes in livelihood, health impacts, and increase emergencies and disasters caused by climate change.”