A report from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says global hunger remains unacceptably high.
The FAO estimates there are 925 million undernourished people in 2010, compared with one point zero two billion in 2009.
But it warns that the fight to reduce hunger will face additional obstacles if food prices continue to rise.
The BBC reports world food prices have risen sharply recently. The price of wheat hit a two-year high last month after a severe drought and wildfires in Russia.
A separate report from Action Aid estimates that hunger costs developing countries $US450 billion per year.
The report says that 90% of these costs stem from lost productivity as a result of malnutrition, while the other 10% is due to higher health system costs.
Action Aid says this is more than 10 times the amount of funding needed to halve hunger by 2015.
