International donors have agreed to provide $1.3bn (€820,000, £651,000) in emergency food financing for Bangladesh in one of the clearest indications that soaring food prices are threatening livelihoods in poorest countries.

The funding package, which includes contributions from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, is also a recognition of the particular difficulties of Bangladesh. Two spells of flooding and a devastating cyclone last year destroyed at least 2m tonnes of rice, forcing the country to import large quantities of its main staple.