I can pretty much guess what most people would answer to this question: the global economic crisis, recession, the financial crisis etc. Yet, they’d be wrong. As todays Financial Times puts it very well:

As we agonise about the recession, we should remember that humanity’s greatest economic problem is more basic: how to get enough food, a challenge still faced by millions. /…/ Food security is the greatest threat to human well-being today. It should not be lost in quibbles about the branding of Parma ham.

You can read it here – Financial Times: The world must feed its hungry.

Similar concerns were voiced by the Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman just over a year ago in his column in the New York Times. He cites three main reasons for the food crisis:

How did this happen? The answer is a combination of long-term trends, bad luck — and bad policy.