The 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI) says sub-Saharan African countries have the highest level of hunger in the world, with Niger, Sierra Leone and Liberia experiencing "extremely alarming levels of hunger," however, this is still an improvement over 1990 levels.

The study, released on 14 October by anti-hunger non-profits the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute, Ireland's Concern Worldwide and Germany's Welthungerhilfe, compiled the most recent country data available - from 2006. It calculated the rankings based on the percentage of malnourished people, under-five underweight children, and under-five child mortality for 120 countries where hunger is a concern.

The study indicated that the hunger snapshot "offers a picture of the past, not the present," because of the two-year data gap.

Since then, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has measured a more than 50-percent increase in food prices; the price of rice, a staple in most of sub-Saharan Africa, has quadrupled worldwide.

Only Burkina Faso was listed among West African countries as a net exporter of cereals.

Liberia

Liberia's Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Gabriel Williams, told IRIN the index means little for Liberia since the study gathered data from the country's years of civil conflict and economic collapse, and did not cover the most recent post-war gains: "This does not represent the reality on the ground. Within the past two years, the economy is growing and the government is making efforts to ensure full sufficiency."

Williams said President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf launched a campaign in 2007 - called "Back to the Soil" - to increase agricultural self sufficiency.

Niger

Niger had the highest level of hunger in the region. Though its score improved since 1990, this was not enough to inch it out of the study's "extremely alarming" hunger group. But the UN World Food Programme's deputy country director in Niger, Gianluca Ferrera, told IRIN in August the country's global acute malnutrition rate has decreased from 15.3 to 10.7 percent between 2005 and 2008 due to improved treatments for malnutrition.

Sierra Leone

The rank of the third West African country in the "extremely alarming" group, Sierra Leone, stayed the same during the period of the study, which overlapped with the country's 11-year civil war that ended in 2002.

Cyril Lahai, Sierra Leone's FAO representative, told IRIN the government is doing as much as it can to fight hunger, with limited resources. "There are factors that impede the fight, including the high cost of agricultural inputs for farmers to grow their own food, which leads to low levels of crude production. The government is trying to modernise the country's agricultural system and move it into commercial production."

Lahai said the government is looking to complete the transformation within the next five years. "There is hope for the country. I have hope."