TOKYO (AFP) - Japan announced Friday it would contribute a fresh 50 million dollars in aid to developing countries over the next three months to help them cope with soaring food prices.

Japan made the announcement three days before it hosts the Group of Eight summit of top industrial powers' leaders. The food crisis is set to be high on the agenda in Toyako, a resort on the northern island of Hokkaido.

"Surging food prices are one of the most important issues to be discussed during the G8 Hokkaido Toyako summit next week," Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said.

Japan made the fresh commitment because "the situation remains serious, particularly in developing countries," he said in a statement.

The aid brings to 200 million dollars the amount of cash which Japan has pledged to developing nations since the food crisis came into global focus earlier this year, it said.

The foreign ministry said it was still working out how to send the aid. Previous aid was divided between donations to the UN World Food Programme and bilateral grants to African nations to buy food.

Global food prices have nearly doubled in three years, according to the World Bank.

Experts have blamed a number of factors such as rising oil prices, growing use of biofuels and increased consumption of high-calorie food, particularly meat, in emerging economies.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick issued an urgent call this week for action on rising food prices at the G8 summit, which brings together leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

"What we are witnessing is not a natural disaster -- a silent tsunami or a perfect storm. It is a man-made catastrophe, and as such must be fixed by people," Zoellick said in a letter to G8 leaders released this week by the World Bank.

"This is a test of the global system to help the most vulnerable, and it cannot afford to fail," he said.

LIKE IT?  LET OTHERS KNOW