DHAKA--At least 15,000 Bangladesh garment factory workers went on strike Tuesday to call for higher wages as food prices in the impoverished nation soar, police said.

Bandladesh's garment industry, crucial for the economy as the leading export earner, saw dozens of factories idle at the Fatullah industrial area, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Dhaka, local police chief Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan said.

"Since morning, over 15,000 workers are sitting in their factories doing nothing. They said they would not start work until the owners raise their salaries. They said their present wages don't cover food expenses," he said.

Last week, a similar strike led owners of at least four factories in the same area to raise worker salaries by 200-250 taka (three to four dollars) a month after riots over high food prices left at least 50 people injured and several factories vandalized.

Prices for the staple rice have doubled in Bangladesh in the past year as floods last summer and a major cyclone that hit the country in November led to severe damage of crops.

The basic minimum monthly salary of a garment worker is only $25 while a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice costs 35 taka (50 cents) --normally enough to feed a family of four for a day.

The majority of Bangladesh households spend nearly 70 percent of their income on food and the government has moved to import more rice and sell it at subsidized prices on the open market to tame inflation.

But soaring global prices and moves by many rice exporting countries to limit supplies has created shortages.

At least five people have died in similar protests over high food and fuel prices in Haiti, while disturbances have rocked Egypt, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia and other countries in the past month.