Urgent action needed to tackle surge in food insecurity, U.N. agency says

FILE PHOTO: A French farmer displays grains of wheat as he harvests his field in Thun-L'Eveque, northern France, July 22, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Conflict, extreme weather and economic shocks increased the number of people facing food crises by a fifth to 193 million last year and the outlook will worsen without urgent action "on a massive scale," a humanitarian agency said on Tuesday.

The Global Network Against Food Crises, set up by the United Nations and the European Union, said in its annual report that food insecurity had nearly doubled in the six years since 2016 when it began tracking it.