| Kenya: 150,000 face hunger in region By Wycliff Kipsang | \r\n \r\n
| Nairobi — More than 150,000 people are on the verge of starvation in East Pokot.\r\nAll the 58 sub-locations in the area are in dire need of relief food following erratic rains last year which led to withering of crops.\r\n\"The drought is escalating everyday and we should brace ourselves for hard times ahead,\" warned the district commissioner Amos Mariba.\r\n | \r\n
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| India food inflation eases By Anant Vijay Kala | \r\n \r\n
| NEW DELHI -- India\'s food inflation slowed in the week to Jan. 8 as vegetable prices cooled, but the central bank is likely to raise its key interest rates at next week\'s policy meeting as price pressures still remain high.The food articles index based on wholesale prices declined 1.2% to 190.6 in the week to Jan. 8 from a week earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The annual inflation rate eased to 15.52% from 16.91% the week before, the second consecutive weekly fall.\r\n | \r\n
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| Govt warned against relying on rice imports By Erwida Maulia | \r\n \r\n
| The government has been warned against relying on rice imports to stabilize rice prices in the domestic market, with global natural disasters and weather conditions forcing exporting countries to halt rice exports. Winang Budoyo, economist at PT Bank CIMB Niaga, the country’s fifth largest lender by assets, said on Thursday that Indonesia should strengthen its domestic rice supply instead.\r\n\r\n | \r\n
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| ‘Chop-chop’ bids inflated prices of rice, says NFA By Kristine L. Alave | \r\n \r\n
| MANILA, Philippines—The government shot itself in the foot when it imported rice in batches in late 2009, which excited the market and inflated the prices for the staple, the National Food Authority (NFA) said Thursday.\r\nRecords from the NFA showed that the Philippines bought a total of 2.25 million metric tons of rice from Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan from Nov. 4, 2009 to Dec. 15, 2009.\r\n | \r\n
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