PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The global relief and development organization Mercy Corps has established a Global Food Crisis Fund to combat the problems that rising food prices are causing the world's poor.

Portland-based Mercy Corps noted that the food price increase is making poverty and hunger worse in countries like Niger, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Penelope Anderson is Mercy Corps' director of food security. She says wheat, rice and corn have shot up significantly.

She says the poor, who spend much of their income on food, are hit the hardest. She says for many, this will mean cutting down from two meals to one.