October 16 is World Food Day

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October 2003

October 16 is World Food Day
Each year on October 16, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day in commemoration of its founding on that day in 1945. The World Food Day/TeleFood theme for this year, International Alliance against Hunger, is a call to action to encourage all those concerned about the problem of hunger to join forces in a common effort.

Over the years, millions of people have graduated from the ranks of the hungry, but 840 million remain crippled by the indignity of not having enough to eat. The goal of cutting by half the number of hungry people by 2015—a target adopted at the World Food Summit in 1996 and reflected in the Millennium Development Goals—still lies out of reach.

What is lacking is political will, according to FAO analysts. "How is it possible in this day and age that so many of our fellow human beings remain hungry?" said Dr Jacques Diouf, FAO Director-General. "Nations must turn verbal commitments to fight hunger into practical programmes."

Nations will need to work harder to create the policy environment, provide the funding and implement the programmes to allow people to overcome hunger and poverty, according to the FAO. For this reason, the global community has resolved to work together within an International Alliance against Hunger.

"Political will is a must to achieve the goal of the World Food Summit. Nations will need to work harder to create the policy environment, provide the funding and implement the programmes to allow people to fight hunger and poverty," says Eva Clayton, FAO Assistant Director-General and Special Advisor to the Director-General, responsible for World Food Summit follow-up.

An international alliance against hunger will bring together the strengths of different groups all over the world to gain momentum to achieve the common goal of eliminating hunger in all its forms, FAO says. Such an alliance would include all partners working in concert: food producers, consumers, international organizations, governments, private firms, scientists, academics, individuals, religious groups and non-governmental organizations. It would also include donors and policy-makers from both rich and poor countries.

For more information
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

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