World Food Day

Mankind has for long been concerned about food shortage and made efforts to find ways to produce as much food as possible. This concern has been intensified nowadays as the predictions suggest that the world's population will grow to 9 billion by the middle of the 21st century and that food production needs 70% increase.

Meanwhile, according to the latest Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports, world hunger has increased once again. Now more than 815 million people suffer from chronic malnutrition. Thus, FAO has set the World Food Day as one of the world's most important issues every year. October 16, the day the FAO was founded in 1945, has been designated as World Food Day. The day is marked by many food security agencies, including the World Food Program and the International Agricultural Development Fund, with the aim of providing food information and planning on food crises around the world. We have prepared a special program on the event.

Although the world leaders at 1996 food summit agreed to halve the number of hungry people by 2015 and invest in public and private sector of agriculture, they also reiterated this commitment at the 2005 summit in the UN headquarters at New York. But according to the World Food Insecurity Situation, only 63 countries have achieved global targets for reducing hunger rates. The latest global food crisis has shown a notable soaring in global hunger. By 2017, 124 million people in 51 countries suffered from severe food insecurity, i.e. 11 million more than the previous year.

In Yemen, 17 million people (60% of the population) face absolute food insecurity due to more than 3 years of Saudi illegal war. In South Sudan, the absolute food insecurity is seen among 4.8 million. The other countries suffering from the highest levels of food insecurity include Syria, Lebanon, the Central African Republic, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Somalia, respectively. The report says that the number of people in the Republic of Congo suffering from absolute hunger has increased dramatically, and now 7.7 million people are in critical condition. The number of people who are suffering from absolute hunger in Afghanistan has risen from 3.3 million to 7.6 million.

Findings from various studies indicate that the food crisis is increasingly due to multifaceted factors, such as wars, severe climate changes, and high prices of the main foodstuffs that often occur simultaneously. However, the wars and carnages launched by the domineering and bullying powers, especially the US and its partners-in-crime, are the main cause of food insecurity in 18 countries. 15 of these countries are in Africa or West Asia. In an interview with daily Guardian, the head of the World Food Program, Francis Mwanza, said: The WFP's wartime cost is very high and about 80% of the cost of the program is devoted to war-torn areas. The 2017 World Food Crisis report also confirmed that war is the main cause of food insecurity and that intensification of hunger in the past decade largely relates to severe massacre and insecurity in Myanmar, Northeast Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Yemen. This shows a strong link between peace and food security which have no place in the policies of the Global Arrogance, spearheaded by the Great Satan, the United States of America.

The consequences of climate changes, especially drought, are another major source of food crisis in 23 countries, two thirds of which are in Africa. According to a global food crisis report, natural disasters cause the acute food insecurity for 39 million people worldwide. According to the FAO, due to climate changes, underground water levels in developing countries will be reduced by up to 50% within 8 years, which will face the people in these areas with severe food crisis. By 2025, the effects of climate changes will have such a great impact on the planet, that the shrinking of underground waters in developing countries will intensify food crisis, especially in eastern and southern Africa and will mainly threaten South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.

According to experts, one of the main causes of global poverty and hunger is the oppressive performance of world economic and political systems. Today, while hundreds of millions are hungry in several countries, 672 million people are suffering from obesity and over one billion people are overweight. On the other hand, according to FAO figures, while more than 800 million people are suffering from food shortages all over the world, every year, 1.3 billion tons of all kinds of food products are lost or wasted. This, whereas avoiding food waste can meet the needs of these people and improve food security in the world. Food waste does not only deprive hundreds millions of the world people from proper nutrition, it also has very negative effects on the environment; it wastes valuable resources such as water, energy, labor, capital and land and causes further greenhouse gas emissions.

In view of the current situation, the 2017 Global Report on Food Crisis has emphasized that without and ongoing serious action people who are suffering from acute food insecurity may get worse and gradually become hungrier. Therefore, to prevent food crisis, we have to contemplate and find the right solution. Otherwise, because of food shortage, different countries will be susceptible to domestic, regional and global chaos. Thus, today there is a pressing need for consistent and coordinated action to save lives and to destroy the root causes of food crisis. With such an approach, the motto for 2018 World Food Day was, "Zero Hunger by 2030".

 The motto of World Food Day in 2018 has been announced by the FAO, and the organization stressed that rich countries need to find conditions for scientific, regional and territorial cooperation to achieve a world without hunger. The executive activities will put into action the slogan of a world without hunger by producing new and appropriate foodstuffs in the world. This includes increasing food access, other food substitutes, changing food habits and healthier nutrition, establishing a World Food Bank for the poor, and managing global nutrition. In addition, experts emphasize a just and equal distribution of food among different nations and ethnicities.

It should be noted that one of the most important factors that can help improve the global food security is the social partnership and the valuable role of farmers’ families. FAO's representative in Iran, Serge Nakouzi, believes that the success of wars on hunger and food insecurity largely depends on the participation of the farmers’ families. Farmers, as the engine of development in every country, play a pivotal role in programs to combat poverty and hunger. He also believes that once proper programs are implemented and necessary facilities are available, poor farmers and their families can quickly apply their productivity potential to eradicate poverty and achieve food security in the world.

FK/RM/MG