'Food prices will double in 20 years' Oxfam says food prices will more than double by the year 2030, with the average cost of key crops increasing between 120% and 180%. The international confederation warns in a report that prices of staple foods will double in 20 years unless world leaders take action to reform the global food system. The charity predicts that the increase will be caused by climate change and has called on world leaders to improve food market regulations and invest in a global climate fund, the state-funded BBC reported. "The food system must be overhauled if we are to overcome the increasingly pressing challenges of climate change, spiraling food prices and the scarcity of land, water and energy," said Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking. According to Oxfam, there are four "food insecurity hotspots" areas which are already struggling for food; Guatemala, India, Azerbaijan and East Africa. The World Bank also announced in April that recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa had caused a 36% increase in food prices compared to the past year. Oxfam has urged world leaders to increase transparency in commodities markets and regulate futures markets, scale up food reserves, end biofuel promoting policies and invest in smallholder farmers, especially women. "We are sleepwalking towards an avoidable age of crisis," said Stocking. "One in seven people on the planet go hungry every day despite the fact that the world is capable of feeding everyone." Oxfam has also called on countries to launch a global climate fund, "so that people can protect themselves from the impacts of climate change and are better equipped to grow the food they need.” Source: presstv.ir