The World Bank is about to open a 200 million dollars fund designed to diminish the effects of the food crisis which threatens a large number of countries. The matter will be discussed on Thursday by the WB board, sources declared for AFP.

The fund may be used to finance food programs in schools. The project comes one week before the United Nations' international conference on food crisis in Rome, which will gather an important number of heads of state and governments.

Estimations say that some 862 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. The ongoing price growth for food caused riots in 37 states, from Cameroon and Haiti to Egypt and Niger.