ore than one in seven of American households suffered from food insecurity in 2008, according to the most recent data on hunger released by the US Department of Agriculture yesterday.

Millions of people will go hungry when future global food crises strike unless the world’s half a billion small-scale farms receive urgent support from the UK and other governments, says development agency Progressio.

Targets to cut the number of hungry people in the world will not be met without far greater international effort, the United Nations food agency has warned.

Kenyan Catholic Archbishop Okoth has urged the government to introduce price controls for essential commodities and also suggested measures to ensure food security for ordinary citizens.

The most severe drought in a decade is fuelling a food crisis in Afghanistan that threatens millions with food shortages and possible starvation, says global humanitarian agency Church World Service.

The chair of the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church in Kenya has warned that more than ten million Kenyans are at immediate risk of hunger, because of mismanagement and corruption by the government.

Without immediate, massive intervention and assistance, starvation in Kenya will become a deadly reality, according to a new assessment report from global humanitarian agency Church World Service.

The plea "Give us this day our daily bread" needs to be heard by political leaders meeting in Rome on the global food crisis, says Jean Blaylock, looking at the response of world church representatives.

While the food crisis in North Korea continues largely unnoticed in the wider world, due to the country's isolation, a North American Anabaptist peace church is taking quiet steps to provide agricultural assistance.

Catholic charities in the US called yesterday for more to be done to help the estimated 35 million Americans who are impacted by hunger. At the White House they called for the strengthening of federal nutrition programs.