Financial crisis said to be pushing hungry to wall

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The economic crisis is pushing the world's hungriest people to the wall, but a fraction of the cost of financial rescue packages could make a huge difference, the head of the U.N.'s World Food Program said Tuesday.

"I don't think it is just an issue of compassion, it is an issue of global peace and security," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran told Reuters in an interview.

If countries already suffering from the effects of high food prices do not get help now, there could be more instability and food riots around the world in 2009, perhaps on an even bigger scale than before, she said.

"Globally, hunger is on a march," said Sheeran, visiting India for the first time to combat malnutrition there.

"The food crisis itself has hit the world harder than I would have ever expected," she added. "We expect the financial crisis will add to the pressure on the world's most vulnerable."

Sheeran, whose organisation will feed nearly 100 million of the world's hungriest people this year, appealed to the United States and Europe to set aside just one percent of the cost of financial rescue packages to combat global hunger.

That amount would fully fund the WFP budget next year and make a big contribution to what Sheeran says should be one of mankind's big ideas -- "that no child goes to school hungry."

"We need to send a bold signal of hope to the world with a human rescue package," she said. "As we take care of Wall Street and Main Street, we can't forget the places that have no streets."