The latest report by two UN bodies, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme, issued a harsh warning about the worsening state of food security around the world, notably in developing nations, where the situation has taken an unprecedented turn for the worse. The report, which is a biannual review of the situation of nutrition and access to food around the world, warns that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots, spread across 22 countries, in the period from June to November this year. Most of the 22 countries listed by the UN bodies figure in the “usual suspects” list, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria, which remain at the highest level of concern, while four countries — Haiti, Burkina Faso, Mali and Sudan — have been added to the highest concern list. Besides these, in a worrying development, the food insecurity report also points out new Asian and African additions to the list of countries where the situation is very bad, if not as bad as that prevailing in the countries of highest concern. These include the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria, besides Myanmar. The report says that all these hotspots have a high number of people facing critical acute food insecurity, coupled with worsening drivers that are expected to further intensify the life‐threatening conditions in the coming months. While all these are extremely worrying developments, one of the worst shocks in the latest report is the inclusion of Pakistan in the list of nations that have been described as hotspots of very high concern. In a way, Pakistan’s inclusion should not come as a major shock. After all, the country has been rocked by a high degree of political instability for almost a year, which has impacted the overall gross domestic product of the country, including its farming sector. In addition to the political instability, Pakistan’s agriculture has also been hit very hard by climate change, as the country has been bearing the brunt of extreme weather events like the worst floods in more than a century that hit last year and destroyed crops over millions of hectares. It has also been facing severe drought, leading to the extreme degradation of large tracts of land, making them unsuitable for farming. But what is shocking about this development is the preeminent position that Pakistan enjoys in the farming world. It is among the planet’s top 10 producers of a large number of cereals, vegetables and fruits. For instance, Pakistan is the fifth-largest sugarcane producer, seventh-largest wheat producer and 10th-biggest rice producer. Thus, its inclusion in the list of countries of very high concern means that perhaps this is the first time that one of the top agricultural producers in the world has itself faced a crisis of adequate nutrition and food security. So far, it has been the norm that the countries facing large-scale food insecurity and hunger were inefficient in their farming and hence were mainly dependent on food imports to feed their people and livestock.And it signals a loud alarm if major farm producers like Pakistan become dependent on food imports or food aid in order to keep their populations from starvation. There are even signs that food insecurity is spreading its wings around the world, impacting other major food producers and exporters. For instance, India, which is the largest milk producer in the world, accounting for 24 percent of the global output, is being forced to turn to imports as its own production stagnates or falls, while consumption continues to rise in line with the growing population. Similar examples can be found in many other countries. If major food producers struggle to feed their populations, little can be said about the countries that have always been dependent on food imports. Since this will push the demand for a variety of food items even higher, it could easily lead to spiraling prices, thus worsening the situation in the areas already classified as hunger hotspots and creating new crises in many other countries. On top of that, the UN agencies’ report also warned that this year there is an 82 percent chance — or near certainty — of El Nino conditions starting in the May to July period. This will have significant implications for several hunger hotspots, especially as it typically leads to severe droughts and heat waves in the Southern Hemisphere, mainly in Africa and Asia. Thankfully, the news this week has not been all bad as far as food security goes and one particular bit of news also carries part of the solution that might lie ahead for countries as they strive to counter hunger and malnutrition. Brazilian scientists reported that they have developed a variety of climate-resistant wheat, which can withstand extreme heat and drought and which is expected to make Brazil self-sufficient in its wheat needs. While the details of this wheat variety are still sketchy and the devil may lie in the detail, it is true that farmers, governments and scientists need to work together to make small tweaks to our farming and eating habits in order to reduce the damage being inflicted on the planet by climate change and global warming.