World Food Prices are higher today than they've been since 1945.

The UK remains engaged on the subject in the UN, pushing for a coherent approach between the UN, the World Bank and IMF to tackle short and long-term challenges of world food prices.

On 22 April 2008, the UK Prime Minister hosted a meeting with leading experts, including the head of the World Food Programme to discuss the need for urgent co-ordinated action to tackle rising food prices.

The UK is pledging £30m to support the World Food Programme's work in some of the countries most affected by food price inflation - including Zimbabwe, Somalia and Kenya. And we will also provide an additional £25m for social protection in Ethiopia once the future structure of the programme is agreed.

Most recently

The UN’s High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, (established on 30 April 2008, led by the Secretary General and co-ordinated by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes) held its first meeting on 12 May 2008, to develop a comprehensive framework for tackling the challenges posed by the food price crisis.

The strategy is expected to outline short and longer-term actions, such as food aid, social protection initiatives and agricultural boosts, which will help counter the negative consequences of the food crisis for the most affected.

The High Level Task Force presented the elements of such a strategy in the form of a draft Comprehensive Framework for Action, at the High Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome on 3-5 June.  Hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the conference was attended by 43 heads of state/government, over 100 ministers, 60 Non Government Organisations and 1,300 media people.

UK Secretary of State for International Development, Douglas Alexander, called for an International Partnership for Agriculture And Food to galvanise action through an integrated programme covering the immediate to longer term. There was broad consensus on the need for urgent and co-ordinated action: in the short-term, to address immediate food security needs and in the longer-term, to boost agricultural productivity. The conference called for a rapid and successful conclusion of Doha trade talks. Work to finalise the Comprehensive Framework for Action will continue in the run-up to the G8 Summit (in July) and the MDG Call to Action High-Level Meeting on 25 September.

ECOSOC special event on Food prices was held on 20 May 2008.