1.   Grain reserves are at their lowest in two years, according to the Famine Early Warning System Network, an arm of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

2.   Grain reserves are still expected to fall to their lowest levels in nearly five decades this summer before the new crops of winter wheat are harvested.

3.   Grain reserves made up the difference, but if shortfalls went on for years the consequences could be dire.

4.   Soaring crop prices and dwindling grain reserves are prompting economists to raise their forecasts for retail food prices.

5.   The situation became life-threatening when the Zimbabwe government sold its grain reserves to buy fuel last year, leaving the country with no emergency food supply.

6.   With grain reserves low, Russian buying overseas looks a certainty.

7.   In normal years, the government would have tapped into its massive emergency grain reserve, which could help feed the country for several months.

8.   North Korea reported late Sunday that its dwindling grain reserves have been afflicted by the deadly storm that lashed the peninsula over the weekend.

9.   Pyongyang has been angered by South Korean claims that the North Korean military was hoarding grain reserves instead of giving them to civilians.

10.   Some donor nations have said the government reacted too late to the crisis and criticize what they describe as mismanagement of the grain reserves.