World Food Day

World Food Day

Among many of the problems the world is facing today, one of the most serious is the problem of poverty. Closely related to this is the problem of hunger. It is in order to make people aware of the seriousness of these problems that the World Food Day is observed every year.

In 1979, the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization announced that 16th. October Would be regarded as World Food Day. 16th. Octobers was chosen because it was the date on which the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded in 1945. The following year, the UN General
Assembly endorsed observance of the Day stating that “ food is a requisite for human survival and well – being and a fundamental human necessity.”

Since 1981, World Food Day has adopted specific themes every year on which to focus attention. In 1981, the theme was ‘Food Comes Fist’ In 2000, it was ‘ A Millennium Free from Hunger’. Some themes of the past are ‘The Right to Food’, ‘Food for All’, ‘Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition’ and ‘ United against Hunger’. This year’s theme is ‘Food Prices- From Crisis to Stability’ .The theme of 2006 was very significant- ‘Invest in Agriculture for Food Security’ – for it wanted to make people understand the important role of agriculture in providing food to the hungry. Many countries stopped growing food on land where traditionally food crops were cultivated and began growing crops that produced ethanol- a substitute for diesel. Fuel brought in money but it also resulted in a steady downfall in food production. The FAQ wanted these countries to understand that this short-sighted action of ignoring agriculture was a dangerous trend.

It is shocking to know that more than one billion people in the world are going hungry today. When in certain parts of the world, the privileged people are worrying about which car to buy and which luxury apartment to rent, one- sixth of the global population is wondering where the next meal will come from, if at all it comes. Observance of World Food Day will help focus attention on the reasons for such a situation and what can be done to solve this huge and pressing problem. More than 150 countries observe this day by making the public aware of the plight of the world’s hungry through meaningful programmes and most of these are organized by their Ministries of Agriculture.

Related to the World Food Day, is an initiative called the TeleFood Campaogn in which the messages that something must be done to solve the problem of the world’s hungry is conveyed through TV and radio broadcasts, concerts and sporting events. Donations to TeleFood support many small pojects in third world countries which help poor farmers grow more food or help them get jobs that enable them to buy food to feed their families.
Thanks to all these initiatives and measures, let us hope that a time will come
when there will be food on everyone’s table.

From : PCM Children Magazine