Yesterday, the FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) announced that in the past year alone, rising food prices have “plunged an additional 75 million people below the hunger threshold,” pushing the number of malnourished people around the world up to 923 million. The news comes less than a week before international leaders gather to focus on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals at the annual UN General Assembly in New York, where issues of hunger and food security are expected to be high on the agenda.

These statistics place even more weight on next week’s meetings and give new urgency to ONE’s call for global leaders to fill the 2008 food and agriculture funding gap of $1 billion that will provide life-saving food and essential seeds and fertilizer to the 30 countries that need it most.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign our petition to fill the funding gap by asking leaders of the G8 nations and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to commit to providing the needed money.

Excerpt below, full release here

“Reducing the number of hungry people by 500 million in the remaining 7 years to 2015 will require an enormous and resolute global effort and concrete actions,” said Ghanem.

To break the hunger-poverty trap, action is urgently needed on two fronts, FAO says – making food accessible to the most vulnerable, and helping small producers raise their output and earn more.

FAO’s twin-track approach aims to create opportunities for the hungry to improve their livelihoods by promoting agricultural and rural development. It also involves policies and programmes, such as social safety nets, which enhance direct and immediate access to food by the hungry.

-Nora Coghlan