A soaring food price has swept the world and presented a gloomy picture for people, especially those from poor countries.

Price up

The food price hike virtually started from 2002, but accelerated during the past few years, especially since August, 2007. In year 2007 alone, international grain price soared by 42 percent.

A latest report by the World Bank showed that wheat price on the international market has jumped 181 percent during the past three years, and food price surged 82 percent in general.

The surge in prices has been led primarily by dairy and grains, but prices of other commodities, with the exception of sugar, have also raised significantly.

Along with the price hike comes shrinking grain stocks worldwide. According to UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the current world food reserve has dropped to the lowest level since 1980.

Reasons

It's widely believed that natural disasters, a growing demand for food worldwide, coupled with market speculation, surging oil prices, and the expansion of bio-fuels, are pushing the food price up.

The UN Environment Program said the planet's water, land, air, plants, animals and fish stocks were all in "inexorable decline." According to the UN's World Food Program (WFP), 57 countries, including 29 in Africa, 19 in Asia and nine in Latin America, havebeen hit by catastrophic floods. Harvests have been affected by drought and heat waves in south Asia, Europe, China, Sudan, Mozambique and Uruguay, according to a Guardian report.