According to the United Nation's world food security report, 815 million people faced serious hunger in 2016 – that is more than one and a half times the entire population of the European Union. There are numerous reasons why so many millions are affected by this issue, from conflict to climate change, and the need for food and shelter is one of the primary reasons for many of the migrant flows across the world today.  In 2015, there were 244 million international migrants, 40% more than in 2000.

A large share of these migrants come from rural areas where more than 75% of the world's poor and food-insecure depend on agriculture and natural resource-based livelihoods, according to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).