Almost a quarter of the world's seven billion people are living in countries highly vulnerable to food crises, according to leading charity body ActionAid.

And lack of investment in agriculture has made the situation worse.

Now, a UN report argues that volatile global food prices have made crucial investment all but impossible in the countries facing food scarcity.

A UN official said Ethiopia and Kenya had much less crisis compared to Somalia because of their investment in agriculture.

Other factor is the rich world's demand for things like flowers and biofuels that has taken valuable land away from food-scarce countries.

Al Jazeera's Peter Greste reports from Nairobi.