The Liberian government has decided to ban all food exports from the country after reports that profiteers were taking advantage of its relatively cheap rice prices to truck the grain to neighboring countries with higher prices.

The high cost of rice has hit particularly hard in West Africa, where many countries use rice as a staple even though much of it is imported. In Liberia, which is recovering from war, the price increase has put yet another obstacle in the way of economic recovery. 

Alternating civil war and coups between 1989 and 2003 ravaged Liberia. The drawn-out conflict left about 200,000 people dead and displaced half the country's population of 3 million.