Rome stepped up security on Sunday ahead of a U.N. world food summit that is likely to make little headway in the fight against hunger.

Leaders pledge to boost agricultural aid to poor countries, but set no targets or deadlines for action.

With more than one billion people going hungry, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) called the November 16-18 summit in Rome.

FAO is hoping to win a clear pledge by world leaders to spend US$44 billion a year to help poor nations feed themselves.

However, a final draft declaration includes only a general commitment to invest in agricultural development, with no mention of eliminating hunger by 2025.

France says the draft is inadequate and vows to push for firmer pledges on finance and regulation of global agricultural markets.

[Kanayo Nwanze, International Fund for Agriculture Development]:
“I think it is totally mistaken for us to expect that it is only through financial assistance from the developed world that the developing world is going to grow its own food and feed its own population.”

A G8 summit in July pledged $20 billion over three years to help farmers in poor nations. There isn’t much of a turnout among G8 leaders, but that has not dampened hopes.

[Kanayo Nwanze, International Fund for Agriculture Development]:
"It is not so much the participation of the world leaders of the G8 that is as important as driving our message home to the developing countries."

Food shortages and malnutrition rose to the top of the political agenda since a spike in food prices last year sparked riots in around 60 countries and hoarding.

The food scare also prompted some richer food importers like Saudi Arabia to snap up farmland in developing agricultural countries.

FAO hopes to keep the momentum going and that leaders will commit to raising the percentage of official aid spent on agriculture to 17 percent. That would amount to roughly $44 billion annually, instead of the present $7.9 billion.

Despite the drop in the prices of staple commodities like rice, corn and wheat, prices in developing countries remain high. Several experts say new spikes are likely.

The number of hungry people this surpassed one billion people, more than at any other time in history and up 100 million from last year.

Previous food summits and meetings have been long on rhetoric and short on concrete action, and whatever promises were made have gone largely unfulfilled.