WFP requests to import rice
[February 15 2011]

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<P>World Food program (WFP) has requested the Sri Lankan government to import rice to meet the agency's rations for 500,000 flood victims.

<P>"In a global climate of food price volatility, such disruptions in the production of staple commodities in developing countries ring alarm bells," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program said in a statement.

<P>"We all know that any price hikes have a greater impact on the world's poorest people, because they spend up to 80 percent of their daily income on food."