WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The world is falling far short in feeding its most critically hungry, pledging only $3.7 billion of the $6.7 billion needed to fund the World Food Programme for 2009, the head of the United Nations relief agency said on Wednesday. The agency has so far received only $1.8 billion in funding and has been forced to cut back programs and rations to the 108 million people it serves, said Josette Sheeran, its executive director. The cutbacks will have a "destabilizing" impact in parts of the world still reeling from dramatically higher food prices and less income due to the global financial crisis, Sheeran told reporters. "There's nothing more basic than food. If people don't have it, one of three things happen: they revolt, they migrate or they die," Sheeran said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; editing by Jim Marshall)
A protester holds a banner as she takes part in a hunger strike to protest against Iran's government, on the Global Day of Solidarity for Iran, in Berlin July 25, 2009. ...
