Which of the following is the main cause of high food prices?

Outside the World Bank’ s headquarters in Washington, D. C., a giant electronic display is tallying the number of chronically hungry people in the world today. As the digits tick up toward one billion, the World Bank is calling on policymakers to put food first.
    A panel of experts discussed today’s high food prices. World Bank sustainable development expert Inger Anderson said small farmers are at the center of the hunger problem. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda with the African policy analysis group FANRPAN says small farmers face a range of challenges, especially in Africa.
    Rwanda’ s minister of agriculture, Agnes Kalibata, was on the panel representing a country that experts praise for its commitment to agriculture. She said Rwanda has benefited from organizing small farmers into cooperatives. Rwanda was the first country to agree to an African Union program to commit 10 percent of its national budget to agriculture. Kalibata said that kind of political leadership is essential if governments are to succeed in reducing hunger.
    Beyond exercising leadership, says the World Bank’s Anderson, there are other things governments can do.
    Many factors are involved in improving small farmers’ productivity, from seeds and water to transportation and access to markets. FANRPAN’s Sibanda said policymakers must tackle them all.
    With food prices high and demand increasing, experts say the way to avert worsening hunger in the world is to put food first.