The food crisis in poor countries coupled with the global economic crisis had caused a spike in world hunger, with more than one billion people undernourished in 2009, the UN's food agencies said in this year's report on global food security issued on Wednesday.
The annual report was jointly produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP). "No nation is immune and, as usual, it is the poorest countries and the poorest people that are suffering the most," said FAO chief Jacques Diouf and WFP head Josette Sheeran.
However, the global financial turmoil has worsened an already grave situation. "Even before the food crisis and the economic crisis outbreak the number of hungry people had been increasing slowly but steadily, but with the onset of these crises world famine has increased sharply," the Rome-based agencies reported.
The FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are currently undernourished, the highest since 1970.
The largest population of the undernourished is in the Asia-Pacific region (642 million people), followed by Sub-Saharan Africa (265 million), Latin America (53 million) and the Middle East and North Africa (42 million). Some 15 million people suffer from hunger in the developed world.
The financial crisis has led to declines in foreign aid and investment in poor countries as well as in remittances from relatives working in wealthy nations, the report noted.
"This loss of income is compounded by food prices that are still relatively high in the local markets of many poor countries," the FAO said.
The UN agencies urged increased investments in agriculture and safety nets "despite the financial constraints faced by governments around the world."
For the FAO it is a crucial moment in global discussion on food emergency.
Following the High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050, held in Rome on Oct. 12-13, world leaders will meet for the World Summit on Food Security on Nov. 16-18.
The UN agencies warned that "the World Food Summit target of reducing the number of undernourished people by half to no more than 420 million by 2015 will not be reached if the trends that prevailed before the crises continue."./.