"LONDON (Reuters) - There is no silver bullet to eradicate the food shortages afflicting Africa, but more money and a better early warning system could help speed aid to people in need, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

A ten-fold increase in the U.N.'s Emergency Fund and greater emphasis on prevention through debt relief, trade reform and encouraging better agricultural practices were also crucial to fighting hunger, he wrote in the Financial Times on Monday.

There is no silver bullet, but there is much we can do," he said, warning that the mass hunger in Niger could still be repeated in southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and southern Africa, affecting 20 million people.

"If the world acts now, this need not happen," he said."

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