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A UN food agency warned Wednesday that the world's hunger problem is steadily growing worse in the face of declining aid and investment in agriculture.

The current food system needs to be reformed if the international community is to achieve its goal of drastically reducing the number of hungry people in the world by 2015, The UN Food and Agricultural Agency warned in a report.

The report, titled "State of Food Insecurity," was released ahead of World Food Day which falls on October 16.

It says the economic downturn plus the soaring cost of food has hit impoverished countries the hardest and has contributed to the rise in the number of people starving from 963 million in 2008.

"World leaders have reacted forcefully to the financial and economic crisis and succeeded in mobilizing billions of dollars in a short time period," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf in a news release.

"The same strong action is needed now to combat hunger and poverty."

The number of people in the world who are undernourished began steadily climbing in 1995 and surpassed the billion-number mark in June in the midst of the global financial meltdown.

The international community made strides in the 1980s and early 1990s in their efforts to combat hunger. But it was hampered by what ended up being a long-term trend of a decline in private investments for agriculture as well as a decline in the amount of world aid being allocated towards the food industry.

"In the fight against hunger the focus should be on increasing food production," Diouf said. "It's common sense ... that agriculture would be given the priority, but the opposite has happened."

High food prices

In 1980, 17 per cent of aid funds donated by countries around the world went directly to agriculture. By 2006, that number plunged to 3.8 per cent. It has only slightly improved in the last three years, Diouf said in an interview with The Associated Press.

High food prices could have contributed in the drop, mused FAO economist David Dawe. He said aid funds and investment dollars could have been reallocated for competing causes such as emergency relief, debt reduction and population control.

The soaring cost of food in 2007 and 2008 hit the undernourished hard as poor families had to cut down on their produce purchases as well as health and education spending.

Food costs have since stabilized but they are still considered to be high, especially in impoverished countries, Diouf said.

Developing countries have had to deal with a sharp reduction in export earnings, foreign investment, development aid and remittances which has reduced employment opportunities for its residents and has strapped the government's ability to provide programs that promote growth and support.

Eric Munoz, an advocate with Christian-based charity Bread for World, said that there have been strong indications on the ground that the hunger situation is deepening.

"We know from anecdotal evidence from the country level that hunger and poverty were already increasing last year before the economic crisis really began to affect poor countries so this is just confirmation of what we've already known," he said in an interview with Â鶹ӰÊÓ Channel Wednesday afternoon.

Asia, Africa worst off

Munoz said at a household level, hunger is about not having enough food to eat but for children and women, the implications are much greater.

"For children, hunger is really about malnutrition, about the kinds of deficiencies in vitamins and minerals and not getting the right foods to eat that are critical for a young child's growth and development or the overall health of a pregnant women or a mother," he said.

The report concludes that 30 countries now require emergency food assistance -- 20 of which are located in Africa. The most affected countries continue to be the one with the highest populations.

Asia and the Pacific recorded the most hungry people at 642 million followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with 265 million undernourished residents.

"The current crisis is historically unprecedented" the new report says. "With developing countries today more financially and commercially integrated into the world economy than they were 20 years ago, they are far more exposed to shocks in international markets."

Diouf hailed a new goal set during the summer's G8 summit in Italy as a positive step towards battling hunger. World leaders committed to raising $20 billion to help spur production on farms in poor countries. This goal marks a shift on previous traditions of simply delivering food aid.

However, the report says that global food production will have to increase by 70 per cent if the world hopes to adequately feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050. That would mean giving $44 billion yearly to poor countries to fund agriculture growth compared to the $7.9 billion they currently receive.

The money would go towards increasing access to irrigation systems, buying modern machinery, building roads and training farmers.

Munoz said he's concerned about the international community's commitment to the cause.

"I think we're getting mixed signals right now," he said. "While budgets are very tight, it's not clear that the money that has been pledged will actually come through and make a difference to the people on the ground.

"On the other hand, there have been some very positive signs that the world's wealthy countries recognize the plight of poor people in developing countries and are stepping up to the plate to try to implement some of the kinds of changes that are really needed to help poor people," he added.

With files from The Associated Press