World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16, the day on which the Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in 1945 as part of the United Nations (UN). This day is celebrated in more than 150 countries of the world.
This year's World Food Day theme is about changing the future of migration and investing in food security and rural development. It is important to note that today more and more people are forced to leave their homes due to war and other conflicts and political instability, and global migrations of this scale have not been recorded since World War II. In addition to wars, hunger, poverty and climate change are also important factors contributing to population migration. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) calls for the cooperation of governments, UN agencies, the private sector, civil society and local communities to gain a full insight into migration flows, and encourages countries to incorporate the important issue of addressing migration into their rural development policy. In addition, FAO supports countries in exploring the development potential of migration, particularly in terms of food security and poverty reduction.
According to the recently published Sustainable Development Goals, one of the biggest challenges facing the world is related to ensuring enough food for everyone. Namely, the current forecasts are that there will be 10 billion people in the world by 2050, and for now there are not enough food sources that can meet the nutritional needs of such a large world population. In order to ensure a sufficient amount of food for an additional two million people in 2050, production should increase by 50 percent at the global level. Food security is a complex issue that requires a holistic approach in all areas – malnutrition, production, contributions from small producers, flexibility in production facilities and sustainable use of available biodiversity and genetic resources. World Food Day is associated with the achievement of the global goal: 0% hunger, which the world can achieve only through joint effort. The goal of ending hunger in the world should be achieved by 2030, and is based on eight reasons:
-0% hunger can save the lives of 3.1 million children every year
- Well-nourished mothers have healthier children with stronger immune systems
-Ending child malnutrition could increase the gross income of developing countries by 16.5%
-Each kuna invested in hunger prevention can be returned multiple times, in the amount of 15 to 140 kuna
-Adequate nutrition at an early age could mean 46% higher personal income later in life
-By eliminating iron deficiency in the blood, productivity at the workplace could be strengthened by 20%
-Stopping nutrition-related mortality by children could increase the labor force by 9.4%
-0% hunger can ensure a safer, better world for everyone.
Prepared by: Astrid Werbolle