Observance of World Food Day

In World of Plenty, Global Food Systems Failing Most Vulnerable, Says

 

Secretary-General at World Food Day Commemoration, Calling for ‘Fix’

 

Food and Agriculture Organization Says Hunger Deep, Profound; World Food

Programme Says 1 Billion Wake Up Daily Unable to Fill Even One Cup with Food

At a special ceremony today in observance of the 2010 World Food Day on the theme “United against Hunger”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that in a world of plenty, the world’s food systems were failing the most vulnerable.

Calling for the world’s food systems to be “fixed” in order to meet that internationally agreed development target, he said achieving that would lift up whole societies and help achieve all of the other Goals.

Speaking during that ceremony, the Secretary-General said that at the gathering to mark World Food Day last year, the number of hungry people had reached more than 1 billion — an unprecedented number.  Since then, that number had fallen to 925 million.  “That is progress, but not nearly enough,” he said.

Still those hundreds of millions of people were chronically undernourished, denied a basic human need and fundamental right, he said.  More and more Governments, civil society groups, businesses and other partners were joining forces to combat hunger.  They were “United against Hunger” — the theme of this year’s observance — and were working together to provide more stable food supplies, greater access, and better nutrition. 

That comprehensive approach covered all the bases, from the farmer’s crop to the child’s school lunch, and from rushing food assistance to people caught in emergencies to helping children during the critical first two years of life, he explained.  The High-Level Task Force on Global Food Security was championing that approach, and the Committee on World Food Security was reformed over the past year to give greater voice to the Organization’s partners.  As a result, farmers’ organizations, research bodies and civil society groups were not just observers on the Committee, but were also active participants.

He went on to say that the Committee was building a strategy so that the international community stood united and effective in the fight against hunger.  New movements were providing backing with social networks that engaged the public, such as the Billion Hungry campaign and the Thousand Days movement.  Still, price upswings were expected to hit low-income countries hardest, posing a major threat to food security, with poor consumers suffering most.  By coming together, the international community could mark World Food Day on a planet with fewer and fewer hungry people, until food and nutrition security was achieved for all.

Also speaking during the ceremony, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf said that hunger was a deep and profound problem, and that the recent food crisis was a result of the world neglecting agriculture in development programmes, and through underinvestment in the sector.

Furthermore, the world did not address the structural causes of hunger, he said.  There was a need for Governments of low-income food deficit countries to increase their share of agriculture in their budgets and to become more resistant to shocks.  Effective tools to deal with food price stability were also urgently required.

The planet could feed itself, provided concrete action was taken, moving past the global need and supply to focus on small farmers, he said.  The global resources existed to ensure that all enjoyed the right to food, and the global community needed to be united in the responsibility to achieve food security.

General Assembly President Joseph Deiss said that while there were fewer people suffering from hunger today than in 2009, that downward trend was not strong, and the risk of food crisis persisted.  Also stressing that it was vital to attack the root causes of hunger, he added that women should be better incorporated into considerations, as they played a part in every aspect of food production.

Yukiko Omura, Vice-President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said it was “unacceptable” that one third of the world went hungry every day.  While the issue was in danger of slipping off the front pages, that must not be allowed to happen.  Small farming businesses produced 80 per cent of the food in developing countries, and those businesses faced enormous challenges.  To be viable, they required access to insurance and long-term credit.

She said the “green revolution” needed to be an “evergreen” revolution that would protect all resources.

World Food Programme Director Pedro Medrano said that every day, 1 billion of the world’s “brothers and sisters” woke up unable to fill even one cup with food.  Children’s minds and bodies were stunted from the simple lack of access to basic vitamins.  Stressing the importance of celebrating successes along the road to defeating hunger, he said Cape Verde had managed to achieve independence and was on track to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger, despite lacking natural resources and suffering from drought.

He said that what stood in the way of achieving food security was not science and technology, a lack of farmers willing to grow more, or a lack of “millions of talented college-educated young people looking for opportunities”.  The international community must look to see what prevented the achievement of food security, be that cynicism, a lack of imagination, or a lack of political will.  The most devastating cause would be a lack of hope.

Economic and Social Council President Hamidon Ali said that all nations — large or small, rich or poor — were affected by the downturn in the global economy.  To address the resulting food shortages, targeted assistance was required with a focus, not only on emergency aid, but also on long-term measures to improve agricultural productivity.

He said that food security was a national, regional and global problem that required coordinated action on those three levels, which should include technology transfers, capacity-building, and market access.  Triangular and South-South cooperation should also be encouraged.

Introducing FAO’s Goodwill Ambassadors video, Goodwill Ambassador Justine Pasek, and former Miss Universe, said that, in a world where a child died of hunger every six seconds, the international community could not remain indifferent and inactive, but must work together to make a more just, more stable, and more secure food system a reality instead of just a distant dream.

At the start of the ceremony, Lila Hanitra Ratsifandrihamanana, Director of the FAO Liaison Office, said to “let peace begin in the heart of each of us in the support of the people of the world”.

The ceremony also included a performance by the United Nations singers, and a pro bono performance by Brazilian guitarist Maestro Marcos Vinicius.

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For information media • not an official record