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In Pictures: World Food Day

UN focusses on global food security as 870 million world-wide suffer from starvation and undernourishment.

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. 
Published On 16 Oct 2012

Tonight, one in every eight people will go to sleep hungry.

According to the latest UN data, an estimated 870 million are starving and chronically undernourished, representing 12.5 per cent of the total global population.

In an effort to fight hunger – perhaps the biggest humanitarian obstacles of our day – UN agencies will mark October 16, also known as World Food Day, in an effort to raise awareness and cooperation.

World Food Day, which honours the day on which the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) was founded, reminds the world that while improvements against hunger have been made, the fight for global food security is far from over.

While today there are 130 million fewer hungry people than there were 20 years ago, aid groups have warned that rising food prices could reverse those achievements. 

The global food and financial crises of 2007 and 2008 have pushed an additional 115 million into hunger, and economic recession that began in 2009 continues to threaten global food security.

As the international community gathers in Italy to discuss the future of food security, experts say innovative initiatives will be critical if the world is to feed itself over coming decades as the global population rises, food prices soar and climate change takes its toll on traditional means of food production.  

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.
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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.
Asia and Latin America have generally reduced the number of hungry people, while the number is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa. 
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.
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.
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. 
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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.
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.  
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.
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.
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.
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.