Impoverished Bangladesh Hard Hit By Global Food Crisis

DHAKA, BANGLADESH - JULY 17: A man holds a handful of rice grains at a market on July 17, 2008 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh has recently closed nearly 2,000 rice mills because they ignored official demands to sell the staple to the army-backed government at below market rates. Rice, a basic staple for Bangladesh's 144 million people, has nearly doubled in price in the past 12 months due to shortages caused by floods last summer, a cyclone in November and the continued rise of fuel prices. Bangladesh is currently one of the world's poorest countries, where nearly 40 percent of the population survives on less than a dollar a day. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)