Ebola crisis raises food prices

Food in countries hit by ebola is getting more expensive and will become scarcer because many farmers will not be able to access fields, a UN food agency has warned.

An ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 1,500 people, and authorities have cordoned off entire towns in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

Surrounding countries have closed land borders, many airlines have suspended flights to and from the affected countries, and seaports are seeing reduced traffic, restricting food imports to the hardest-hit countries.

Those countries — Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone — all rely on grain from abroad to feed their people, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

In one market in the Liberian capital of Monrovia, the price of cassava root, a staple in many West African diets, was up 150%.

The UN has said 1.3m people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will need help feeding themselves in coming months.