BALTIMORE, Maryland USA, Oct 14 (IPS) – World Food Day 2024 World Food Day looks like it should be a time to celebrate. A day to eat delicious food and enjoy the rich cultures and food traditions around the world.
But it’s hard to celebrate when conflict, the climate crisis, and our own biodiversity loss crisis leave at least 733 million people hungry worldwide. Dr. Evan Fraser from the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph calls these situations critical. And the results are bad.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2023, one in 11 people worldwide experienced hunger in the previous year. And one in five people in Africa is facing hunger.
If current conditions continue, more than 582 million people will be undernourished by 2030, and half of these people live on the African continent, according to the FAO and four additional United Nations agencies. That’s less than 6 years away, which means we have a lot of work to do.
Fortunately, we now know what works. This year’s theme for World Food Day is Right to Foods for Better Life and Better Future. Everyone deserves healthy, nutritious, safe, and delicious food.
And the United Nations says, “A greater variety of nutritious foods should be available in our fields, in our markets, and on our tables, for the benefit of all.” I would add that we also need a diversity of people, practices and thoughts to help feed the world.
This year the prestigious World Food Prize will be awarded to the Special Envoy for Food Security, Dr. Cary Fowler, and agricultural scientist Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin. The two individuals, according to the World Food Prize Foundation, were awarded for their “outstanding leadership in preserving and protecting the world’s heritage of plant diversity and consolidating this important resource to protect against threats to global food security.”
And Dr. Fowler works to encourage farmers and governments to plant “opportunity crops” such as cowpea, sorghum, sorghum, and other ancient and resilient foods. These crops are often overlooked because of corn, rice, and other so-called common foods, but they also have the potential to solve a number of problems. They build soil health and if storage and processing can improve in places like sub-Saharan Africa, they can be profitable.
Another solution—and it should be obvious—is to empower women and girls. We systematically underutilize at least 50 percent of the world’s population. Equal rights for women is not only a moral and ethical obligation, but it can help solve the problem of hunger.
According to the FAO, if women had access to the same resources as men—education, access to credit and financial services, empowerment, and respect—they could lift as many as 100 million people out of hunger. And equal rights are good for the economy. And according to Betty Chinyamunyamu of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi, “gender integration makes good business sense.”
In addition, women tend to grow truly nutritious food—including those plants available, but also fruits and vegetables that contribute to agrobiodiversity. “Women’s empowerment has a positive impact on agricultural productivity, food security, nutrition and child nutrition,” says FAO’s Status of Women in Agrifood Systems. Ensuring that women are empowered in all aspects of their lives makes common sense.
In addition, farmers—small, medium, and large—really need a seat at the table, from personal inclusion in international discussions such as COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference, to co-creating technologies with scientists and entrepreneurs that will solve problems. what farmers experience in the fields and farms.
For example, Good Nature Agro in Zambia develops ways for farmers to prevent post-harvest losses and manage their farms sustainably. And the Global Alliance of Latinos in Agriculture aims to create a world where farmers and ranchers thrive worldwide—and they plan to bring hundreds of producers to COP30 in Belem, Brazil next year.
On this World Food Day (October 16), the Arrell Food Institute is bringing together agri-food leaders and experts to tackle solutions like diversity, empowering women, and putting farmers in the driver’s seat to create a safe and sustainable global food system. A meal plan that works for everyone.
I hope that in the not so distant future, World Food Day will be a day of celebration.
Danielle Nierenberg is the President and Founder, Food Tank, a self-described global community that inspires, motivates, and activates positive change in the way we produce and consume food.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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