IN 2009 the World Food Program (WFP) provided food to over 102 million people and 62m of those people were children.
For former WFP deputy executive director John Powell food security is still high on the agenda and this year's International Grains Forum provided an opportunity for the now WFP consultant working out of Pakistan to present some harsh realities on the global grains industry.
Last year more than 21m children around the world received a meal at school or take- home rations for their families, an act that Mr Powell described as addressing the issues of hunger, under-nutrition and education all at the same time.
On any given day the WFP has a fleet of 4000 trucks, 60 aircraft, 40 ships, trucks, cars, horses and carts, donkeys and elephants delivering food around the globe.
Food comes from donations in member states mainly in the form of grains but also in cash which is used to purchase food for developing countries.
"We purchased 2.6 million tonnes of food last year," Mr Powell said.
"Of that, 2.1m tonnes was for developing countries at a cost of $770m and it's important because purchasing into those developing countries helps to stimulate agricultural growth."
With a staff of about 10,000 people and 90 per cent of them based in the rural areas of developing countries, the WFP employees face immense danger in their day to day lives.
"Last year alone, five WFP staff and six contracted truck drivers were murdered delivering humanitarian assistance," Mr Powell said.
"It's logistically and operationally difficult, it's also dangerous for all of those who participate to get food to those who most need it."
Like most of the presentations given at the International Grains Forum, the topic of the importance of grain in global food security was at the top of Mr Powell's agenda.
"For the world's poor, grain forms a majority of their calorie intake," he said.
"Three quarters of the Latin American and South East Asian diet is made up of grains and 60pc of the African diet consists of grain."
According to Mr Powell, in developing countries the proportion of under-nourished people had dropped from 37pc in 1969-1971 to a projected 16pc in 2010, a phenomenon which has been credited to an inherent increase in global food grain production.
"The world has now, and has for decades produced sufficient food for every person on this planet," Mr Powell said.
"But like (Federal Agriculture Minister) Joe Ludwig asked in his earlier presentation, how are we going to increase farm production by 70pc and feed a world population of about nine billion by 2050?"
Mr Powell was clear with his message that increased global grain production didn't mean that every individual could access that food and without good programs more food production and abundant harvests would mean nothing to the world's poor.
There was no proven direct connection between the rise in agricultural food production and the individual outcomes recently recorded by the WFP.
"India for example, with raised incomes and food deficit to food surplus, still remains home to the largest number of malnourished people in the world," Mr Powell said.
"There are more malnourished people in India than there are people in the sub-Sahara in Africa."
Although the US is the food basket of the world it is also home to 17m families who are food insecure.
"More than two thirds of the USDA's $133 billion budget is projected to be spent on food nutrition programs for poor families," Mr Powell said.
"No-one would suggest that a bumper harvest in the Mid West of America would see a cut in food programs.
"Increased food production is necessary but not sufficient enough alone to end the surge of hunger and that's the bottom line."
Mr Powell cited the recent "triple f crisis" as having a major impact on the global grain industry.
"Food, fuel and financial problems have had an incredible impact on world hunger," he said.
"In 2006 the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) food price index for cereal was 121, by 2007 it rose to 167 and in 2008 it was 238 which was almost double.
"Except for the 2009 downturn, global grain prices are at a structurally higher level and are not likely to come down soon.
"In 2008 oil prices peaked at almost US$150 a barrel which led to knock-on effects on agricultural inputs, fuel, fertiliser and delivering product to market."
The financial crisis impacted those countries that were the most financially and commercially dependant on the global economy.
According to Mr Powell, cutbacks on export markets, reduced foreign direct investment by one third, a rise in unemployment and the sideways movement by governments were major consequences.
"For the first time since numbers have been recorded in this area the absolute number of the hungry increased," he said.
"More than one billion people didn't have enough to eat day in, day out, during this time."
The impact of the crisis on the world's poorest was immediate and devastating.
"Those living on $1.25 a day would spend most of it on food," he said.
"Eighty per cent of the world's population doesn't have a social safety net, under-nutrition is responsible for the deaths of 3.5m children every year and the loss of billions of dollars of productivity forgone."
Hunger is an increasing urban phenomenon and populations suffering through food shortage do one of three things, revolt, migrate or starve.
"There is increasing evidence of links between food insecurity and broader insecurities," Mr Powell said.
"For WFP the triple f crisis had two immediate effects, a dramatic increase in operational costs and an increase in case loads of those who needed urgent help."