Rich countries must increase food aid tenfold: UN agriculture chief

Rich countries must dramatically ramp up their aid for agricultural development to curb rising food prices, the United Nations' top agricultural official said in an interview published on Monday.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Jacques Diouf said that aid would have to increase tenfold to 30 billion dollars (19.3 billion euros) a year to help developing countries raise production levels.

"The only way out of the crisis is to increase food production, in particular in poor countries," the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization told the business daily.

The FAO is holding a summit from Tuesday to Thursday at which world leaders will discuss food security following runaway prices sparking riots across the world.

"It is touching every country in the world," he said of rising food prices.

"We have not only seen riots and people dying, but also a government toppled (Haiti), and we know that many countries that are emerging democracies could tilt to one way or the other depending on the discontent or satisfaction of their population."