BERLIN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- German pharma giant Bayer on Tuesday announced it signed the "Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge" which it would support with 160 million U.S. dollars.

       As part of the Zero Hunger Coalition, the private sector initiative emerged from the United Nations (UN) Summit on Food Systems 2021 in an effort to end global food shortages. It is focusing on regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

       Bayer's involvement brought the total volume of funds provided by the private sector to 458 million U.S. dollars, a company spokesperson told Xinhua.

       At the moment, 43 companies were participating in the initiative which operated in 48 countries.

       The number of people experiencing "acute food insecurity" around the world climbed to a new record of nearly 193 million in 2021, according to a report published earlier this month by the Global Network Against Food Crises, established by the UN and the European Union (EU).

       "We are facing hunger on an unprecedented scale, food prices have never been higher, and millions of lives and livelihoods are hanging in the balance," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the foreword to the report.

       The Russia-Ukraine conflict was "supercharging a three-dimensional crisis -- food, energy and finance -- with devastating impacts on the world's most vulnerable people, countries and economies," Guterres added.

       Many food-crisis countries were reliant on wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine, according to the Global Network Against Food Crises.

       In 2020, these countries accounted for 34 percent of Ukraine's total exports of wheat and maize products as well as for 73 percent of Russian exports of wheat.