Lack of domestic rice due to major floods and a devastating cyclone last year along with the skyrocketing global prices of rice have pushed Bangladesh to the verge of a severe food crisis.

The price of rice, the core of the Bangladeshi diet, has jumped by more than 30% since then - a major problem in a country where nearly half the population survives on less than $1 a day.

Bangladesh is far from the only country with food problems. There have been riots in the African nations of Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal. Rising prices have hit poor countries like Haiti and Peru and even developed countries like Italy and the United States.