"It is a true massacre what is happening in the world," Chavez said in a televised speech, citing UN statistics about deaths caused by hunger and malnourishment.

"The problem is not the production of food ... it is the economic, social and political model of the world. The capitalist model is in crisis."

The self-styled revolutionary and Cuba ally has won popular support by subsidizing food for the OPEC nation's poor majority, although his administration struggled last year to keep products such as milk and sugar on store shelves.

Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, visiting Caracas to meet with Chavez and other allied leaders on Wednesday, accused developed countries of spurring food prices through biofuels.

"Developed countries want to feed the cars of the rich with food -- this is the irrational world we live in today," Lage said, echoing Chavez's frequent accusations that Washington's promotion of biofuel is boosting prices of staples like corn.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned earlier this week that high food prices could wipe out progress in reducing poverty and hurt global economic growth.

Riots in poor Asian and African countries have followed steep rises in food prices caused by a range of factors including pricier fuel, bad weather and the conversion of land to grow crops for biofuel.