It is much easier to control the PH and nutrients in a body of water than soil. You can also take and give as needed. On top of that you can have thousands of sq/ft of hydroponics in a sky scraper where managing the soil and depth needed for proper plants in a structure would be unreachable.

If governments wanted to put money into hydroponics, I think a lot of starving families would be fed, but unfortunately politics and personal ambitions are always a step above ethics.