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Haitians are no strangers to hunger. But even the resilience of the hemisphere's poorest citizens can be pushed too far, and with world food prices spiking this year due to shrinking harvests, burgeoning demand and skyrocketing fuel prices, it should be little surprise that Haiti is once again erupting in angry violence.

All businesses, schools and government activities have ground to a halt, reminiscent of bloody protests that have plagued this country for the last several decades — most recently in 2004, when former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown.

The cost of staple foods has risen some 50% in Haiti since last year, a crushing trend in a country where three-quarters of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

After arriving for a two-day visit on Friday, Josette Sheeran said feeding the victims is a top priority, but she also urged agriculture officials to buy seeds and other produce from local farmers to revive the economy.

"Haiti wants to grow its own food and to be self-sufficient, not just waiting on food assistance while they recover from this devastating storm," Sheeran said.

Rene Preval, Haiti's president, told the United Nations General Assembly on Friday that his country requires long-term reconstruction efforts, beyond immediate food and disaster relief. "We have to break this paradigm of charity in our approach to international co-operation … because charity has never helped any country to get out of underdevelopment," he said.

We need to start not throwing money at the problem but starting investing more in the solutions and try to create a social business where people don't feel they're entitled to free things but try to create a system - very difficult, it's easier to say than to do - but trying to create a social business where people don't expect everything for free, that they have to start working and creating a system where they will feed people by making sure that the economy is helped by buying locally. Let's not send more food. Let's send food the first week, but after, let's work with the local farmers to make sure that those farmers become part of the solution of creating jobs, of making sure that the economy is self-sustaining. And this is - this should be the beginning of, hopefully, a long but beautiful recovery.

Mr. ANDRES: Very conflicted. What the last caller mentioned, it's what's happening, but you know, it's - as he said, it's part of the economy of rebuilding. Unfortunately, this is part of our world - is people that have everything, and these people that have nothing. I mean, a place like Haiti, you see everyone working side by side. You're in a hotel having a perfect meal, and right across from your hotel, literally two meters, three, five meters away from the door, you have a camp. And that makes you think. That makes you think. And this is why I came back and I incorporated these organizations that right now we are only three, four people, all central kitchen, with the intention of feeding the world in a clean sustainable way.

What I realize is that the people feel as if they're not getting involved in the solution to the problem. They're just waiting around, not knowing what's going on. Until, as the chef just said, until we get them involved, until we show them the solution have to come from within, no matter what we do, we will not bring about the solution to that situation. As he said, we - the people will feel a sense of entitlement, as if everything is owed(ph) to them, or we're going to bring everything free to them. If you give me every day, I'm going to hope to get something from you every day. If you do not show me how to fish, when you're not around, how am I going to survive? If my economy is not sustainable, doable, how I'm going to survive when you're not around to bring me food?

Before hurricane Ike hit, Haitians were already suffering from skyrocketing food prices that sparked nationwide protests and forced out the prime minister in April.

Now, nearly two weeks after a muddy deluge killed more than 100 and left tens of thousands homeless in this city, hunger is rampant as humanitarian aid is delayed and prices soar even higher.

Four years ago, tropical storm Jeanne killed some 3,000 people in this city and the surrounding area. The death toll from Hanna has not been as high, but Gonaives residents and aid workers say that in many ways the devastation has been worse.

Some 300,000 people are receiving water and food rations every day, with the latter number expected to jump to 1 million a day by the end of the week, according to Haitian health officials. After an initial lack of medical supplies that left some Haitian doctors performing amputations without anesthesia, thousands of life-saving surgeries have been performed and medical supplies are generally plentiful.