The international community has failed to ensure food security in the world, France's agriculture minister said at the start of emergency talks on the Horn of Africa drought crisis in Rome.
"The international community has failed to ensure food security in the world," Bruno Le Maire told UN aid agency chiefs and charity representatives.
"If we don't take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century," Le Maire said, adding: "Our meeting is a question of life or death for tens of thousands of people."
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France called the meeting at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome as current head of the G20 group of leading world economies.
The worst drought in the region in 60 years has put 12 million people on the brink of starvation and prompted the UN to officially declare a famine in two regions of southern Somalia.
