MAX ROSSI/REUTERS
Corn plants struggle to survive in a drought-stricken farm field near Evansville, Indiana. Oppressive heat and a worsening drought in the U.S. Midwest pushed grain prices near or past records.
JOHN SOMMERS II/REUTERS
Former FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, right, introduces Italian actor Raoul Bova during the celebrations of the World Food Day at the FAO headquarters in Rome. World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16.
PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images
A Nepalese farmer walks from his paddy field to his home in the village of Khokana. Over 80 per cent of Nepal's population of 27 million depends directly on agriculture, but farmers are often far removed from the demands of the national and international markets.
Andy Hall/Oxfam
Asia and Latin America have generally reduced the number of hungry people, while the number is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa.
May Ying Welsh/Al Jazeera
The UN says droughts are expected to increase due to climate change, which will in turn affect agriculture and food supply. Drought in the Sahel region is threatening the food security of over 18 million people in the region, according to the FAO.
ADI WEDA/EPA
A farmer carries baskets full of corn after a harvest in Indonesia. Nearly 50 per cent of the world's population is living in rural areas, which tend to be less food secure than their urban counterparts.
MOHAMED AL-SAYAGHI/REUTERS
A malnourished child is seen at a therapeutic feeding centre in Sanaa, Yemen. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), at least half of the 7.6 million children who died in 2012 starved or perished at the hands of malnutrition-related illnesses.
KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
Activists in Tokyo, representing investors, hold out plastic vegetables as they ride toy excavators on a large map featuring pictures of food in the shape of the African continent during a protest against investors whom they claim are taking Africa's land and food.
HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images
A Nung hilltribe ethnic woman carries home cassava from a field in Vietnam. Studies suggest that women often work harder than men, especially in rural areas, even though 60 per cent of those classified as chronically hungry people are female.
SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images
Afghan widows line up to get their foodstuff rations at a CARE International food distribution centre in Kabul, which provides some 7,200 widows with food and other services. With many Afghans living on less than $1 per day and high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, the country is
heavily dependent on aid.
John Moore/GALLO/GETTY
People wait for cooked meal at a feeding center at a camp for Somalis. The famine that struck the Horn of Africa in 2011 was in part caused by the worst drought in 60 years, throwing some 13 million people in the region into crisis.
ADRIANE OHANESIAN/REUTERS
Men carry bags of food while women wait for their rations at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution site in Pibor, South Sudan. The WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger with operations in more than 73 countries.
/REUTERS
A Cuban farmer Juan Mendoza sorts tomatoes on his cooperative near Havana. "Agricultural cooperatives - key to feeding the world" is the formal title given to 2012's World Food Day, as cooperatives are seen as a tool to fighting hunger for future generations.