PRESIDENT George Bush said the United States would make available nearly $US1 billion in new resources to bolster global food security before next week's summit of G8 countries.

"At Toyako I'll also ask leaders of the G8 to make other important strategic moves to alleviate hunger, such as increasing the shipments of food, fertilisers and seeds to countries in need. It's one thing to talk about the problem; this is a practical way to help countries deal with the lack of food," he said.

Mr Bush said that at previous summits G8 countries had pledged to help developing nations meet challenges, but the world now needed "people who not only make promises, but write cheques, for the sake of human rights and human dignity, and for the sake of peace".

Former Bush Administration official Robert Zoellick had warned that the World Bank's World Food Program faced short-term needs of $10 billion.

Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Mr Zoellick said he was alarmed by the sudden shift towards food self-sufficiency in several countries, warning this thinking endangered free and efficient agricultural markets.

"For globalisation to work successfully and achieve its promise, it must be inclusive and sustainable," he said. "This means acting now in the interests of the poor, who are most affected by this double jeopardy of food and fuel crisis."

The World Bank was running into problems because countries were refusing to make emergency food available to the World Bank's food programs because they were stockpiling. This could be disastrous.

Subsidies on corn for ethanol aimed at promoting energy security in the US compounded the problem, Mr Zoellick admitted. But he still considered biofuel research worthwhile, particularly if the fuels could be made from non-food plants.

Mr Bush echoed some of Mr Zoellick's themes but with a little less drama.

"In 2005, G8 leaders promised to double development assistance to Africa by 2010. America is on track to meet our commitments. And in Japan, I'll urge other leaders to fulfil their commitments as well."

Mr Bush said he would talk security and climate change. "I'll be reminding people that we can have better energy security and we can be better stewards of the environment without sacrificing economic growth."