( CNN ) -- The world 's poorest countries could pay 40 percent more for food this year than they did last year because of rising prices , according to a United Nations report released Thursday . Rising food prices have left many people , like this Ugandan boy , unable to afford food and malnourished . In those countries , nearly a billion people are on the brink of malnourishment and , as food prices climb , more at risk of starving . The latest Food Outlook report , compiled by the U.N. 's Food and Agriculture Organization , shows that countries which spend a substantial part of their budgets on food will pay $ 169 billion this year for food imports . That is 40 percent higher than last year and four times higher than in 2000 . `` Food is no longer the cheap commodity that it once was , '' FAO Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem said . `` Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854 million people . `` We are facing the risk that the number of hungry will increase by many more millions of people . '' The FAO lists 82 countries as `` Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries '' that can not produce or import enough food to meet their all their population 's needs . More than half of the countries are in Africa . Riots from Haiti to Bangladesh to Egypt this year over surging food prices brought the issue to a boiling point . The United Nations ' World Food Program and World Bank President Robert Zoellick recently appealed to the international community to donate $ 500 milllion to help meet emergency needs by those hit by the high food and fuel prices . Last month , U.S. President Bush ordered the release of $ 200 million in emergency aid . The money , to be drawn from a food reserve , will address food needs in Africa and elsewhere , the White House said . The United States is the world 's largest provider of food aid , delivering more than $ 2.1 billion in food aid to 78 countries last year , the White House said in a statement . `` This is the world 's big story , '' said Jeffrey Sachs , director of Columbia University 's Earth Institute . `` There are riots all over the world in the poor countries . ... Our own poor are feeling it in the United States . '' Zoellick has said the rising costs could mean `` seven lost years '' in the fight against worldwide poverty . `` While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks , many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs , and it is getting more and more difficult every day , '' Zoellick said last month in a speech opening meetings with the world 's finance ministers . `` In just two months , '' Zoellick said , `` rice prices have skyrocketed to near historical levels , rising by around 75 percent globally and more in some markets , with more likely to come . In Bangladesh , a 2-kilogram bag of rice ... now consumes about half of the daily income of a poor family . '' The price of wheat has jumped 120 percent in the past year , he said , meaning that the price of a loaf of bread has more than doubled in places where the poor spend as much as 75 percent of their income on food . `` This is not just about meals forgone today or about increasing social unrest . This is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future , stunted intellectual and physical growth , '' Zoellick said . In the United States and other Western nations , more and more poor families are feeling the pinch . In recent days , presidential candidates have paid increasing attention to the cost of food , often citing it on the stump . The issue is also fueling a rising debate over how much the rising prices can be blamed on ethanol production . The basic argument is that because ethanol comes from corn , the push to replace some traditional fuels with ethanol has created a new demand for corn that has thrown off world food prices . Jean Ziegler , U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food , has called using food crops to create ethanol `` a crime against humanity . '' Sachs said , `` We 've been putting our food into the gas tank ; this corn-to-ethanol subsidy which our government is doing really makes little sense . '' The ethanol industry rejects the focus on ethanol in examining food prices . `` The contrived food vs. fuel debate has reared its ugly head once again , '' the Renewable Fuels Association , which lobbies Congress on the behalf of the industry , said on its Web site , adding that `` numerous statistical analyses have demonstrated that the price of oil -- not corn prices or ethanol production -- has the greatest impact on consumer food prices because it is integral to virtually every phase of food production , from processing to packaging to transportation . '' Analysts agree that the cost of fuel is among the reasons for the skyrocketing prices . Another major reason is rising demand , particularly in places in the midst of a population boom , such as China and India . Also , Sachs said , `` climate shocks '' are damaging food supply in parts of the world . `` You add it all together : Demand is soaring ; supply has been cut back ; food has been diverted into the gas tank . It 's added up to a price explosion . ''
Report : Poor countries will spend 500 just two months on food imports . Riots occurring from Haiti to Egypt to Haiti over surging food prices . Food prices could mean `` seven lost years '' in fight against hunger . Sachs official : We struggle with gas , others struggle to fill their stomachs .