World Food Day: Millions still hungry around the world

Published October 16, 2014
Indian men eat a midday meal provided by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at the cost of five Indian rupees (8 cents) on World Food Day in Hyderabad, India. Photo-by-AP
Indian men eat a midday meal provided by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at the cost of five Indian rupees (8 cents) on World Food Day in Hyderabad, India. Photo-by-AP
Homeless Indian residents eat a meal at the roadside on World Food Day in Hyderabad. Photo-by-AFP
Homeless Indian residents eat a meal at the roadside on World Food Day in Hyderabad. Photo-by-AFP
Indian shoppers buy vegetables at the Raithu Bajar, or farmers' market, on World Food Day in Hyderabad. Photo-by-AFP
Indian shoppers buy vegetables at the Raithu Bajar, or farmers' market, on World Food Day in Hyderabad. Photo-by-AFP
A general view shows speakers on stage (Left) with Queen Maxima (3rd left) of the Netherlands during the World Food Day ceremony headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
A general view shows speakers on stage (Left) with Queen Maxima (3rd left) of the Netherlands during the World Food Day ceremony headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
The head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva (Right) and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attend the World Food Day headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
The head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva (Right) and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attend the World Food Day headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
The head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva (Right) and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attend the World Food Day headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
The head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva (Right) and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attend the World Food Day headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attends the World Food Day headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attends the World Food Day headquarters in Rome. Photo-by-AFP

"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread," Mahatma Gandhi once said. According to the 2014’s report on the State of Food Insecurity in the World, which was issued on the eve of World Food Day on Thursday, 63 countries have reached international hunger-reduction targets before 2015, which is “proof of the progress possible when governments, humanitarian organisations and the private sector come together to make lasting change.” The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warned earlier this year that the number of starving people in the world is as high as 805 million, or one in nine, despite the overall figure falling by more than 100 million in the past decade.

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