Rome, May 22 (IANS/AKI): Hunger and conflict are interlinked and sustaining impoverished rural communities can help break the cycle, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation chief Jose Graziano da Silva said here.

"There can be no food security without peace, and no lasting peace without food security," he told a meeting on progress made by the FAO-Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance for Food Security and Peace.

"Whenever conflict looms large, or hunger threatens peace, we need to sustain rural vulnerable communities. To save lives, we also have to save their livelihoods," he added.

According to FAO figures, over 60 per cent of people suffering from hunger live in conflict areas. At the same time, there are a growing number of conflicts over natural resources to produce food, the UN agency noted.

Bangladeshi Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus also addressed Tuesday's event and called for a new approach to food security and conflict involving initiatives to foster social cohesion and rural entrepreneurship.

Yunus is among 12 Nobel prize winners involved in the FAO-Nobel Peace Laureates Alliance for Food Security and Peace - an advocacy group set up in 2016 that aims to break the cycle of conflict and hunger.