The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has written a letter to the chairman of the G8 group of industrialised nations, Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda, asking the organization to take action to deal with rising food prices. In his letter he says; "Rising food prices threaten to roll back progress we have made in recent years on development. For the first time in decades, the number of people facing hunger is growing. Food prices have risen sharply leading to food riots in several countries."

While Brown acknowledges in the letter that there are several underlying causes to the current problem he does point to the increasing demand for biofuels as an aggravating factor. There is, he goes on to say, a growing consensus that we need urgently to examine the impact on food prices of different kinds and production methods of biofuels, and ensure that their use is responsible and sustainable.

"The international community needs a fully co-ordinated response", says Brown in the letter. "I would like to propose that you, as Chair of the G8, ask the World Bank, the IMF and the UN to urgently work together to lead the development of an international strategy to address all the elements of this crisis."

He concludes; "We need both short-term action to deal with immediate hardship, and a medium term response, which will provide a framework for tackling the opportunities and challenges."

The letter was also sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the IMF and Robert Zoellick of the World Bank.

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