July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Soaring food and energy prices increased the number of hungry people by about 50 million last year, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said.

``Poor countries are feeling the serious impact of soaring food and energy prices,'' Jacques Diouf, the FAO's director general told a European Parliament conference in Brussels. ``We urgently need new and stronger partnerships to address the growing food security problems in poor countries.''

Rising demand for crops from the food and biofuels industries is worsening a supply shortage caused by climate change, which has cut harvests through droughts and floods, the Rome-based organization said in an e-mailed statement today. Cereal stockpiles are at a 30-year low and supply is being restricted by trade barriers, it said.

Wheat, corn and rice have risen to records this year because of shrinking global stockpiles and rising demand, sparking food riots from Haiti to Ivory Coast. The FAO forecast in May that world food imports will cost a record $1.04 trillion this year, $215 billion more than in 2007. Global food production needs to double by 2050 to meet demand, the UN says.

``Governments and farmers will also have to cope with the burden of climate change on agriculture,'' Diouf said. ``If temperatures rise by more than three degrees, yields of major crops like maize may fall by 20-40 percent in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.''

The world is losing 5 to 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of agricultural land a year because of degradation caused by water shortages, the FAO said. Developing countries are further hampered in their efforts to boost agricultural output but rising fertilizer prices, which rose at a higher rate than food prices between January 2007 and April 2008, the FAO added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marianne Stigset in Oslo at mstigset@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 3, 2008 11:24 EDT