The Nobel Prize for Peace has been awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday for feeding millions of people from Yemen to North Korea, even with the covid-19 pandemic pushing millions more into hunger.

Nobel Committee Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said on unveiling the winner in Oslo that the WFP was “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”,

“This is a powerful reminder to the world that peace and #ZeroHunger go hand-in-hand,” the distinguished organisation said on Twitter.

Founded in 1961, the UN body has assisted in feeding 7 million people last year, distributing 15 billion rations to people in 88 countries.

Whether delivering food by helicopter or on the back of an elephant or a camel, the WFP prides itself on being “the leading humanitarian organisation” in a world where, by its own estimates, some 690 million people — one in 11 — go to bed on an empty stomach.

Reiss-Andersen said, “With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger

“The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious circle: war and conflict can cause food insecurity and hunger, just as hunger and food insecurity can cause latent conflicts to flare up and trigger the use of violence.

“We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.”

WFP executive director David Beasley said the agency was “deeply humbled” by winning the prize, adding it had rendered him “speechless”

According to experts, despite making progress over the past three decades, if current trends continue, the UN’s goal to eradicate hunger by 2030 appears out of reach with women and children being mostly at risk.