A top UN agency has warned that rising food prices have pushed 75 million more people into the ranks of the world's famished, bringing the figure to a total of 925 million.
The new figures released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation on Thursday ahead of next week's General Assembly meeting on global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals, show that the number of people suffering from hunger is now roughly 925 million.
Contributing to this growth is soaring food, fuel and fertiliser prices, the FAO said. Food prices rose 52 per cent between 2007 and 2008 and fertilizer prices have nearly doubled over the past year.
"The devastating effects of high food prices on the number of hungry people compound already worrisome long-term trends," Hafez Ghanem, FAO Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development said.
Hunger increased as the world grew richer and produced more food than ever during the last decade, he said.
"Not only does this development impact efforts to achieve the hunger-related MDG but it also affects progress towards many of the Goals," Ghanem said.
"Reducing the number of hungry people by 500 million in the remaining seven years to 2015 will require an enormous and resolute global effort and concrete actions," he added.
The FAO stressed the need for action on two fronts, making food accessible to the most vulnerable and helping small producers raise their output and earn more.
