High price of rice
Updated on 09 April 2008
In the past month alone the price of rice has risen by more than 50 per cent in some areas and the UN has warned of worldwide unrest from rising food prices.
It is the staple diet for half of the global population, but the soaring cost of rice is now threatening to trigger food riots and political unrest across Asia.
The situation is being made worse by counties imposing restrictions on their rice exports and threatening harsh punishments for hoarders. Global costs are being driven up by a number of factors.
As Inigo Gilmore reports from India and Thailand, the world's largest exporters of rice, the high prices are likely to have the biggest impact on some of the world's poorest people.
