The number of hungry people in the world will increase to a record 1 billion this year, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said.The total will advance by 104 million people in 2009, Jacques Diouf, director general of the Rome-based FAO, told reporters in Paris. Prices of wheat, rice and corn rose to records last year, sparking riots from Haiti to Ivory Coast.

“We have never seen so many hungry people in the world,” Diouf said.

World food prices rose in April, led by gains in oils, fats and sugar, the FAO said today. Its index of 55 foods was at 143 points last month, compared with 140 in March and 214 in June, the group said today in a report on its Web site.

Source: Bloomberg