Rising food prices....

Posted on Wed, Oct. 01, 2008

Rising food prices increase poverty in Guatemala

A United Nations report says rising food prices have pushed half a million Guatemalans into poverty.

A report from the U.N's World Food Program says another half of million of Guatemala's poor are now living in extreme poverty due to increased prices for the country's basic food staples.

Guatemalans have seen corn, rice and bean prices rise by more than 40 percent in the past two years.

The report's author Nicholas Virzi of Rafael Landivar of the University in Guatemala City said another 200,000 Guatemalans who are not living under the poverty line are also struggling to purchase food.

More than half of Guatemala's 12 million people live on less than $2 a day.