Washington - US President George W Bush on Thursday called on legislators to approve 770 million dollars to confront a growing food crisis in the developing world.

The new money would bring to nearly 1 billon dollars the amount of new aid pledged this year by the United States to address rising food costs, which have spread hunger and sparked riots in poorer countries.

"In some of the world's poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food," Bush said.

Most of the money would go to emergency food aid, while about 150 million dollars would go toward longer term projects to boost agricultural production in developing countries, White House officials said in a conference call following Bush's remarks.

The Bush administration last month made 200 million dollars available immediately to address the food crisis through a government agricultural programme.

The congressional money, by contrast, could only be released in October at the earliest. But Steve McMillin, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said its impact should not be "minimized" because it would help aid agencies plan ahead.

The White House said most of the new assistance would go to Africa, where the World Bank has warned the food crisis threatens to roll back gains made in combatting poverty in the last seven years.

The United Nations World Food Programme and other international relief agencies have called for emergency donations to boost food stocks and avoid massive malnutrition and starvation among the world's poorest populations.

Bush said that he was working with other industrial nations to boost food aid and called for restrictions on food exports to be lifted.

"Some countries are preventing needed food from getting to market in the first place, and we call upon them to end those restrictions to help ease suffering for those who aren't getting food," Bush said.

Nepal on Wednesday became the latest country to ban grain exports in the face of rising food costs and shortages at home.

The World Bank last month said that food prices have risen 83 per cent in the last three years, including a 120-per-cent spike in wheat in the last year alone. (dpa)