Up to 345 million people are facing food insecurity in 82 countries, more than twice the level seen before the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the World Food Programme reported on Monday.
The figure represents an increase of more than 200 million people since before the pandemic, the Rome-based UN body said.
"There is a very real risk that global food and nutrition needs may soon outstrip WFP's - or any organization's - ability to respond," it said.
Pointing to Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and Afghanistan, the WFP said that taken together "these figures tell an alarming story: the world is in the midst of a global food crisis, the largest in recent history."
It said that in response, the WFP was activating a global emergency to prevent famine and death.
The UN agency said it was aiming to support a record 151.6 million people in 2022, up from 128 million reached in 2021, itself a record.
Its global funding forecast would provide less than half the annual operational requirement of $22.2 billion, it said.
"WFP is facing a triple jeopardy: operational costs are going up, the numbers of the acutely hungry are rising to unprecedented levels, and yet funding for humanitarian operations is dwindling," it said.
A shortage of exports from the major grain producers of Russia and Ukraine was driving prices up, while the war has also disrupted agricultural production in Ukraine.
The WFP pointed to Russia's role as a major fertilizer producer and energy supplier. And it noted that certain food-producing countries were limiting or banning exports in order to stabilize domestic prices.
