VIENNA -- The United NationsWorld Food Program (WFP) is increasingly turning to digital means to distribute food aid, its spokesperson Katharina Weltecke said on Monday.

Their "digital food assistance" program uses cash or vouchers distributed via money cards or to cellphones, Weltecke told Austrian press agency APA.

This allows people to decide for themselves when they wish to use the aid, and saves the organization having to transport aid to remote areas as well as storage costs that would otherwise be involved.

Addressing the media on the occasion of World Food Day, the WFP said it was currently using the digital system in 38 countries including Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Zambia and the Philippines, where users of the system can shop at select stores.

Weltecke said the number of starving people had been reduced by 130 million to 870 million people over the last 20 years primarily thanks to improved methods in tackling the issue as well as improved location data.

She added that the most effective way to solve hunger and poverty was not the distribution of aid but strengthening agricultural industries in developing countries, with three out of every four starving people being peasant farmers.

Sub-Saharan Africa is still a region suffering heavily from hunger, with every fourth person, or 234 million people, not receiving adequate nourishment, according to WFP figures.