All the indications show that the current crisis will not be temporary. Unless firm global actions are taken immediately, the crisis will deepen and expand in other directions.

The rise of oil prices to unprecedented levels, climatic changes intensifying droughts, floods and cyclones, the increasing popularity of biofuels and the depletion of global food reserves have all combined to cause the current food shortage and inflation. A decline in global poverty in large countries like China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, which make up nearly half the world population, has led to higher consumption of food grain among newly better-off people, also raising prices. This has hit the poor, and particularly poor children, very hard.

PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD YUNUS ON THE COVER PAGE OF NEWSWEEK AS ONE OF THE WORLD'S SUPERCLASS OF INFLUENTIAL THINKERS AND PERSONALITIES OF OUR DAY.

An immediate global action plan should be put into place to secure food supply and financing for needy countries. The idea of creating a global food bank can also be explored seriously. The U.N. secretary-general should lead this effort. U.N. agencies like WFP, FAO, IFAD and UNICEF, multilateral development banks, regional development banks, research groups like the CGIAR and private-sector food-grain companies should be brought in to help prepare and implement the plan. Common goals should be defined so that all can move speedily in the right direction.

Longer-term funding and political direction must be given to encouraging "green revolution"-type technological breakthroughs in agriculture. It is also time that rich countries take the lead in ending trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.

The rise in oil prices has significantly contributed to the rise of food prices. It will continue to do so. We need a solution to this crisis that connects it to oil prices. The oil bill for each country is becoming higher and higher, and with this increase in price, there is less and less money available for food imports.

Given that higher oil prices are a big part of the problem, I propose that each oil-exporting country create a poverty and agriculture fund, contributing a fixed amount (say, $10) per barrel of oil exported. This will be a small fraction of the windfall gain made from the higher price of oil. This fund would be managed by the founding nation, and would be devoted to overcoming poverty, boosting agricultural research, supporting social entrepreneurship and improving other areas such as health care, employment, women's empowerment, safe drinking water, information technology, soil quality, and education.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136360