As speculation has pushed up the prices of staple foodstuffs the number of global hungry has topped one billion G8 leaders have vowed to provide £12.4 billion to the developing world over the next three years to boost food production.
The investment, which is £3.1bn more than had been expected, will fund a three-year initiative to help poor countries modernise their own agriculture.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, the host of the G8 meeting in L'Aquila, reported that the leaders decided to raise the initial goal from £9.3bn following talks with African leaders.
The initiative calls for helping the private agricultural sector and small farmers, particularly around harvest time.
In a joint statement, the G8 and African states said that the money would be dedicated to a "co-ordinated, comprehensive strategy focused on sustainable agriculture development, while keeping a strong commitment to ensure adequate emergency food aid assistance."
There are around 500 million small-holder farmers in the world and they produce up to 80 per cent of the food that feeds the world's population.
Angola welcomed the new commitment, saying that it was a "very significant step."
Angola's ambassador to Italy Manuel Pedro Pacavira said: "Rebuilding the infrastructure and constructing new infrastructure in Africa will create wealth that will contribute to reducing poverty." And UN Food and Agriculture Organisation chief Jacques Diouf hailed what he described as a "total shift" in rich states approach to tackling world hunger.
"You solve the problem of hunger by giving the necessary tools to farmers who are in these poor countries so they can produce food," Mr Diouf noted.
But anti-poverty groups said that the funding was insufficient and pointed out that rich countries have a long history of failing to make good on development pledges.
Oliver Buston, the European director of anti-poverty group ONE, agreed that "the best way to tackle poverty is through growth of the agricultural sector."
But he said that Africa alone requires an additional £15.4bn over the next three years to ensure a basic level of food security.
Food security has jumped to the fore of the political agenda since high prices sparked deadly riots in underdeveloped countries last year.
Prices have receded from mid-2008 highs but a recent estimate by the Food and Agriculture Organisation said that the number of hungry people this year was a record one billion.
