The head of the UN's food relief agency has warned that 38 million people are threatened by starvation in Africa.
Mr James Morris, executive director of the World Food Programme, told the UN Security Council that Africa faces a drought far more widespread than before.
He said the crisis has come at a time of "massive demands for food aid elsewhere" in Afghanistan, North Korea and parts of Central America.
Mr Morris said: "If we are to make real progress against hunger in Africa... difficult political choices will have to be made, both by African states and traditional donor countries."
In southern Africa, where more than 14 million people need food, donors have pledged only 56 per cent of the €500 million needed, he says.
Last year, the World Food Programme fed 77 million people in 82 countries at a cost of €1.75 billion. But Mr Morris said it has had to cut off rations because of a lack of money.
Mr Morris said: "There is not enough money to feed those starving today, and trade and economic policies - national and international - make it unlikely all will be fed in the future.
"Nowhere is this clearer than in Africa today. Political decisions by some African governments - and by the governments of the developed world - have made it hard for the continent to feed itself.
"People are hungry because their governments have made the wrong political decisions," he added. "In the end, hunger is a political creation and we must use political means to end it."
AP