Food is one of the basic things that we need to survive. We get to eat food every day as many times as we want, but there are some people across the world who don’t either get proper meals daily or have access to nutritious food. In order to draw attention toward the menace of hunger and create awareness of food security, World Food Day is observed every year.
World Food Day is also commemorated as the anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations falls on October 16. World Food Day 2020 holds significance as this year marks the 75thanniversary of FAO, which works in over 130 countries worldwide. The goal of FAO is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food.
World Food Day 2020 theme
The theme for World Food Day 2020 is “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our actions are our future.” This highlights the need to work in such a way that every person gets the required amount of nutritious food to lead active and healthy lives.
Some facts related to food
-There has been a steady increase in hunger along with obesity since 2014. The situation requires people and world leaders to accelerate and scale up actions to strengthen food systems and protect livelihoods.
-According to the FAO, today total crop production is majorly dependent on only nine plant species. These nine species account for 66 per cent of total crop production. This data highlights the fact that we need to grow a variety of food to nourish people. Apart from these nine plant species, there are at least 30 000 edible plants.
-Over two billion people do not get to eat safe, nutritious and sufficient food. Hunger eradication becomes more important as the world population is expected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050.
-Due to COVID-19, between 83 and 132 million people could fall in the hunger trap. The number of hungry people has increased by 10 million since 2019, reaching nearly 690 million.
How World Food Day 2020 is being marked
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release a commemorative coin of Rs 75 denomination on the occasion of 75th anniversary of FAO. He will also be dedicating 17 recently developed biofortified varieties of eight crops.
On the other hand, the FAO is recognising the efforts of food heroes who have done their bit to eradicate hunger or worked towards food security. It has also organised a digital event on the occasion of World Food Day 2020. This event will see participation by FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, FAO Special Ambassadors and heads of the Rome-Based UN agencies, among others.
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