Human rights chief tells the Committee on World Food Security that one per cent of farms operate over 70 per cent of farmland

19 October 2026

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the UN-hosted Committee on World Food Security in Rome that more than a quarter of humanity struggles to get enough food even though the world produces enough for everyone. He said global food supply now exceeds 3,000 calories per person per day, a historic high, yet hunger reduction has not kept pace. Households alone throw away more than one billion meals every day, just one per cent of the world's farms operate more than 70 per cent of global farmland, and conflict is driving acute hunger in 12 of the 13 current hunger hotspots. He called for a human rights economy built on social protection, fair taxation and agricultural policies that reduce poverty, with equitable access to land, water and seeds. Addressing the Committee for the first time as Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Sofia Monsalve Suarez said chronic hunger declined in 2025 but acute hunger has risen steadily since 2016. She said 1.4 million people in six countries face catastrophic conditions, nine times more than in 2016, and 266 million people face acute hunger every day, including in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen and Gaza.