The World Food Day theme for 2014 was Family Farming: "Feeding the world, caring for the earth"; in 2015 it was "Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty"; in 2016 it is Climate Change: "Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too",[1] which echoes the theme of 2008, and of 2002 and 1989 before that. The theme of 2020 was "Grow, nourish, sustain. Together. Our actions are our future."[2]
U.S. National Committee for World Food Day offices in Washington, D.C.
World Food Day (WFD) was established by FAO's Member Countries at the Organization's 20th General Conference in November 1979. The Hungarian Delegation, led by the former Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Pál Romány, played an active role at the 20th Session of the FAO Conference and suggested the idea of celebrating the WFD worldwide. It has since been observed every year in more than 150 countries, raising awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger.[3]
Themes
FAO World Food Day 1981 3pc Set Silver
Since 1981, World Food Day has adopted a different theme each year in order to highlight areas needed for action and provide a common focus. FAO issued World Food Day medals each year to commemorate and promote the anniversary.
Most of the themes revolve around agriculture because only investment in agriculture – together with support for education and health – will turn this situation around. The bulk of that investment will have to come from the private sector, with public investment playing a crucial role, especially in view of its facilitating and stimulating effect on private investment.
In spite of the importance of agriculture as the driving force in the economies of many developing countries, this vital sector is frequently starved of investment. In particular, foreign aid to agriculture has shown marked declines over the past 20 years.
Italian coin dedicated to the first World Food Day (1981)Afghan coin dedicated to the first World Food Day (1981)
2018: "Our Actions Are Our Future, Ending World Hunger by 2030 is Possible"
2019: "Our Actions Are Our Future, Healthy Diets for A #ZeroHunger World"
2020: "Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together"
2021: “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow”.
2022: "Leave NO ONE behind".
2023: "Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind"
Events
In over 150 countries, events mark World Food Day. Examples of events held across the world are listed.
India
World Food Day is celebrated in honour of the date of the founding of the FAO of the United Nations in 1945. It is also followed in India.
United States
World Food Day has been a tradition in the United States since one year after the first World Food Day in 1981. In the United States the endeavor is sponsored by 450 national, private voluntary organizations.[4] One example for World Food Day events is the World Food Day Sunday Dinners that Oxfam America sponsors in collaboration with several other non-profits.[5] Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu[6] and author Francis Moore Lappe[7] have teamed up with Oxfam America to promote World Food Day Sunday Dinners. The Iowa Hunger Summit has been held on or near World Food Day since 2007, and is organized by the World Food Prize in conjunction with their annual symposium in Des Moines, Iowa.[8]
Europe
In Italy, ministries, universities, research agencies, international agencies, and NGOs have organized many conferences as well as exhibitions and symposia. The Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Policies organized a meeting which focused on women's rights in rural areas in 2005.
In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture have all become involved via press conferences.
Spanish television has been active in broadcasting events. FAO Goodwill Ambassador – Spanish soccer star Raul – has taken part in events and helped highlight food-security issues across his country.
The UK Food Group has also been active through conferences and media broadcasts.
In Hungary, renowned experts have given presentations in the Hungarian Agricultural Museum and FAO, and WFD medals have been awarded to well-known Hungarian experts by the FAO Sub-Regional Representative.
World Food Day celebration at Kalakamati, Botswana
Angola celebrated WFD in 2005 through the 4th Forum on Rural Women, while in Burundi the second Vice-President planted potatoes to provide a symbolic example about food production.
In Central African Republic, the President of the Republic has inaugurated a bridge at Boda to coincide with World Food Day, making the agricultural production area more accessible.
In Chad, thousands of people have attended debates, conferences and activities including theatre, films, folk dance, visits to project sites and visits by agricultural companies.
In Ghana, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has hosted a food security conference, while Namibia has run an awareness campaign through national media.
In Botswana, the National Food technology research center recently exhibited its products and services at the World Food Day commemoration held at Kalakamati Farm on 19 October 2017.
Egypt has hosted a Forum on nutrition issues. Morocco and Tunisia have held seminars and exhibitions.
In Nigeria, organizations and individuals involved in feeding programs (e.g. Foodbank Nigeria) connect with other stakeholders in food production, agro-allied industries, wholesalers and community-based organizations to address food security challenges. For example, since 2009, Northern Nigeria is unstable. According to the humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger (AAH), the ongoing and deepening humanitarian crisis in Northeast Nigeria has led to the displacement of over 1.5 million people, causing four million people to experience acute food insecurity and be in need of humanitarian assistance (Action Against Hunger). Since 2010, the AAH have been working with both "national agencies" and "local communities" to build capacity to treat deadly malnutrition caused by food insecurity (Action Against Hunger).[16]
The Government of Bangladesh has been involved through organizing a food festival.[17]
In China in 2005, celebrations were organized in Qujing City, where numerous ethnic minorities live, by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government of Qujing City, with the participation of a number of senior officials of the Government.[18]
The Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia has in the past organized a major Food Expo in Bandung, West Java, while a Farmers' and Fishermen's Workshop of NGOs was held in Bali.
In Armenia, staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, non-governmental organizations, Armenian State Agriculture University, the donor community, international organizations, and the mass media have participated in the World Food Day ceremony.
In Afghanistan, representatives of Ministries, embassies, UN agencies, International Financial Organizations, National and International NGOs, and FAO staff have attended the World Food Day ceremony.
In Cyprus, special ceremonies have been organized in primary and secondary schools, where teachers explained the significance of World Food Day.
In Pakistan, a Society Named as MAPS (Mentor Amiable Professional Society) celebrates world food day by providing food packages to poor & née-dies and tells the importance of food to the people by organizing workshops.
In the Philippines on 16 October 2015, writer and real estate entrepreneur Wilson Lee Flores started celebrating "World Pandesal Day" at the non-partisan Pandesal Forum of his Kamuning Bakery Cafe in Quezon City. He and celebrities like GMA Network, Inc. Chairman Felipe Gozon, Senator Sonny Angara and actor Dingdong Dantes gave away 30,000 "pugon" or wood-fired brick oven breads and other gifts to urban poor families. In 2016, he repeated this civic project with celebrities like Quezon City Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte and business leader James Dy of the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association, plus undertaking free medical, dental and optical missions for urban poor families. In 2017, the celebration included 50,000 breads, sardines, hams, noodles, and juices from various companies, plus two dates for free medical, dental and optical clinics on 8 October and 29 October. Special guests at this third "World Pandesal Day" were led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Vice-President Leni Robredo and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Ronald Dela Rosa accompanied by Quezon City senior superintendent Guillermo Eleazar.
In Mongolia, for the World Food Day celebration in the country, it has become a tradition that the research conference "Food security" is annually organized by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry and UN FAO representative office in Mongolia in cooperation with the Mongolian Food Industry Association. This event provides an opportunity to promote research work, to highlight the contributions of scholars and researchers to the country's food security, to strengthen the cooperation and collaboration between research institutions, NGOs and food related public organization, to transfer the technological research in the industry, and to develop research-based policy and regulations.
Latin America
In Chile, exhibitions of indigenous food products have been prepared by the local communities.[citation needed]
In Argentina, senior officials of the Government, academics, international organizations and the press have participated in the main ceremony.
In Mexico in 2005, a National Campaign for a "Mexico Without Hunger" was held, with the involvement and support of civil society and students.[citation needed]
In Cuba, producers have been able to exchange views and experiences at an agricultural fair. The media strongly supports awareness campaigns on World Food Day.[citation needed]
In Peru, during 2017, the Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry (Minagri) started a campaign to promote consumption of native, high-protein foods such as quinoa, kiwicha, and legumes, among others.
Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services". Historically, other definitions have been proposed within the United Nations.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to "let there be bread". It was founded on 16 October 1945.
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term hunger is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an appetite. The most extreme form of hunger, when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of famine.
Food security is the availability of food in a country and the ability of individuals within that country (region) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuff. According to the United Nations Committee on World Food Security, food security is defined as meaning that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. The availability of food irrespective of class, gender or region is another element of food security. There is evidence of food security being a concern many thousands of years ago, with central authorities in ancient China and ancient Egypt being known to release food from storage in times of famine. At the 1974 World Food Conference, the term "food security" was defined with an emphasis on supply; food security is defined as the "availability at all times of adequate, nourishing, diverse, balanced and moderate world food supplies of basic foodstuff to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset the fluctuations in production and prices". Later definitions added demand and access issues to the definition. The first World Food Summit, held in 1996, stated that food security "exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."
The Hunger Project (THP), founded in 1977 with the stated goal of ending world hunger in 25 years, is an organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. It has ongoing programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where it implements programs aimed at mobilizing rural grassroots communities to achieve sustainable progress in health, education, nutrition, and family income. THP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization incorporated in the state of California.
Famine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. In spite of the much greater technological and economic resources of the modern world, famine still strikes many parts of the world, mostly in the developing nations.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international agricultural research center founded in 1975 to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations in agricultural technology. Additionally, IFPRI was meant to shed more light on the role of agricultural and rural development in the broader development pathway of a country. The mission of IFPRI is to provide research-based policy solutions that sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition.
Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas, often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Often, rural regions have experience rural poverty, poverty greater than urban or suburban economic regions regions due to lack of access to economic activities, and lack of investments in key infrastructure such as education.
José Graziano da Silva is a Brazilian American agronomist and writer. As a scholar, he has authored several books about the problems of agriculture in Brazil. Between 2003 and 2004, Graziano served in the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva cabinet as Extraordinary Minister for Food Security, being responsible for implementing the Fome Zero program, which was a focal point of the Lula Administration's cash transfer program Bolsa Familia. On June 26, 2011, Graziano was elected director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), becoming the first Latin American ever to hold the position. After his first term from 1 January 2012 to 31 July 2015, Graziano da Silva was re-elected for a second 4 year-term during FAO's 39th Conference.
There were 795 million undernourished people in the world in 2014, a decrease of 216 million since 1990, despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone—7 billion people—and could feed more than that—12 billion people.
The Feed the Future Initiative (FTF) was launched in 2010 by the United States government and the Obama Administration to address global hunger and food insecurity. According to Feed the Future, it is "the U.S. government's global hunger and food security initiative."
The International Year of Soils, 2015 was declared by the Sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly on December 20, 2013, after recognizing December 5 as World Soil Day.
Gorta was one of Ireland's longest-running international development organisations. It was established in 1965, as 'Gorta: The Freedom from Hunger Council', in response to a call by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Freedom from Hunger Campaign (FFHC) for member countries to raise public awareness and financial support for long-term agricultural development. Following a merger with Self Help Africa in July 2014, the organisation operated in Ireland until May 2018 as Gorta-Self Help Africa. Thereafter the organisation has operated as Self Help Africa.
The Blu Ribbon Revolution: Co-creating a World Beyond Poverty (ISBN 978-93-5053-306-2) is a book by the Winner of the 2012 Dubai Cares Award and community activist Viswanathan Manikan.
Maria Helena Semedo is a Cape Verde economist and politician who currently serves as Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In the early months of 2017, parts of South Sudan experienced a famine following several years of instability in the country's food supply caused by war and drought. The famine, largely focused in the northern part of the country, affected an estimated five million people. In May 2017, the famine was officially declared to have weakened to a state of severe food insecurity.
Endorsed in December 2017, the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 seeks to place family farming at the center of national public policies and investments. In declaring this decade, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the importance of family farming in reducing poverty and improving global food security. The UN Decade of Family Farming is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in collaboration with governments and civil society organizations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity has intensified in many places – in the second quarter of 2020 there were multiple warnings of famine later in the year. In an early report, the Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Oxfam-International talks about "economic devastation" while the lead-author of the UNU-WIDER report compared COVID-19 to a "poverty tsunami". Others talk about "complete destitution", "unprecedented crisis", "natural disaster", "threat of catastrophic global famine". The decision of WHO on March 11, 2020 to qualify COVID as a pandemic, that is "an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people" also contributed to building this global-scale disaster narrative.
Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to achieve "zero hunger". It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". SDG 2 highlights the "complex inter-linkages between food security, nutrition, rural transformation and sustainable agriculture". According to the United Nations, there are around 690 million people who are hungry, which accounts for slightly less than 10 percent of the world population. One in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night, including 20 million people currently at risk of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.
Rural women are a fundamental part of rural communities around the world. They play an important part in rural society, providing care and being involved in number of economic pursuits such as subsistence farming, petty trading and off-farm work. In most parts of the world, rural women work very hard but earn very little.
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