by Daniel Costello

In 2007, riots broke out from Egypt to Haiti when food shortages grew around the globe. Food prices have been rising for years as overall demand continues to outstrip supply and structural problems with how food is grown and distributed around the world worsen.

Last year's recession eased food inflation but policy experts are worried prices could rise soon, impacting developed countries still hurting from the recession and poorer countries with little breathing room for even minor dips in the food supply.

 

After decades of decline, the number of undernourished people around the world has risen 20% since the middle of the last decade and the trend is expected to continue for many years even with a new global intervention.

On a positive note, more money is starting to pour into agriculture after decades of neglect. Both public and private sectors are doing more to help farmers than ever. In 2009, the World Bank increased its spending on agriculture by 50%, to $6 billion.

But progress is slow. At a United Nations-backed food security summit in Rome this month, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization argued world hunger could be wiped out if aid-giving countries spent $44 billion a year.

Jacques Diouf, head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, spoke of his "regret" that countries attending the Rome gathering set neither "measurable targets nor specific deadlines" for aid aimed at tackling undernourishment among one billion people worldwide.

None of the leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations attended except for Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.