"We have seen global hunger on the rise, reversing decades of our progress," said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at the start of the launch of The State of Food Security and Nutrition report at the United Nations.

Five international agencies warned that the world is currently moving away from the Zero Hunger goal, which aimed to end world hunger by 2030.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, climate change and inflation were mentioned in the report as major drivers of food insecurity.

Mohammed said, "More recently, we have seen global hunger on the rise, reversing decades of our progress. The first time I attended the launch of this flagship report was in 2019, and hunger was already on the rise then."

She added, "With only eight years to go before the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals, ed) 2030 deadline, the call is clear: Food systems must be transformed to build resilience against these drivers. We cannot continue with the business as usual. We must make the transition from humanitarian relief to development, addressing the root causes by investing in sustainable development driven by transformed and reconceptualized food systems. We can address the root cause of hunger, food security and malnutrition."

For his part, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, QU Dongyu, said, "828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. This is an increase of 46 million from 2020, and 150 million more than 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic."

Additionally, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program, David Beasley added, "It's time to learn the lessons of this crisis and invest in resilience programs to help the poorest communities protect themselves against hunger, against shocks. If we had successfully threaded this needle in the past, the war in Ukraine wouldn't be having such a disastrous global impact today."