Bruce Cran, president of the Consumer Association of Canada, suggested that Canadians change their eating habits by purchasing food products harvested near their residence.

Compared with the situations in advanced economies, the rising oil and food prices may cause even greater havoc in emerging economies, where people spend a larger percentage of their income on basics such as food and fuel, experts said.

At an IMF meeting in mid-April, Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram said India was seeking a global consensus on spiraling prices of food and oil in many countries, saying the "problem would transform into a global contagion if timely action is not taken."

To some extent, the "disease" is already spreading quietly. Short of cash, the World Food Program, the UN agency that feeds the world's poorest people, now has no choice but cut back on its aid.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2008)