World Food Day, celebrated annually on the 16th of October, is a reminder of the world’s growing food problem. Started to celebrate the founding of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945, the day sees events all over the world to educate people and launch spirited campaigns against hunger (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
World Food Day: What it is and why it’s more important than ever

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). The theme for the year 2024 is ‘Leave no one behind’ which captures the Rising barriers to access to Nutritious foods occasioned by conflicts, climatic changes, rising costs, and Inequality.

Hunger Rate and World Food Insecurity

Some recent reports from FAO paint a disturbing picture. Currently, according to FAO, more than one in ten people are in hunger, 828 million people, and projections are that by 2030 around 670 million people, that is 8% of the world population, will still be hungry despite attempts towards the actualization of the SDG of ending hunger by 2030 or the “Zero Hunger” cause.

Unfortunately, the current status is being aggravated by the COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and climate fluctuations, all of which led to scarcity and food price hikes. These factors have operated most profoundly to the detriment of the poorest in society and in the developing world, especially in rural regions.

Around a fifth of children under the age of five across the world are stunted from poor diet and one in five Africans are hungry. Policies adopted and pursued by states entailing unequal recovery have been analyzed in the FAO’s 2022 report as deepening inequality and excluding the vulnerable population from adequate food consumption. A study done in 2020 sets out to determine that more than 3 billion people across the world could not afford a healthy diet in 2020 as food insecurity increases.

Why Food Insecurity is Growing

Food insecurity means having insufficient, unsafe, and or unbalanced diets. As of 2021, there were moderately or severely food insecure people, 2.3 billion people, out of which 11.7% were severely food insecure.

The war in Ukraine and reduced supply of vital food export items like wheat and maize among other factors in this globalization process has made this crisis worse by sharply raising the food prices. Lack of fertilizers has also worsened the problem which continued to affect food production; most especially in the Third World countries.

Necessary Shift in Agricultural Support

The current global food support is approximately $630 billion each year, but the FAO has asked governments to revise their agricultural support systems to promote sustainable and healthy diets. A good proportion of these resources is used in trade policies and subsidies which mess up the market and affect the environment. The priority given to staple foods hampers the development and availability of fruits, vegetables, and pulses that are important in human diets.

New policy direction is required to promote nutritionally adequate and eco-friendly foods, especially in the worst affected areas within the developing world. The FAO plays a role as an organization that promotes change in agri-food systems worldwide to be more provisioned, thus embracing long-term development and resilience.

Action Proposed by World Leaders on Food Scarcity

Poor nations must find new ways to feed the ever-growing population which is expected to rise by 60% in 2050. We found that frameworks like the WEF’s Innovation with a Purpose have convened more than 50 institutions and over 1000 leaders globally to leverage the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to deliver change in the food systems.

These initiatives as discussed, seek to increase sustainable production, access, transportation, and consumerism of food as a way of combating hunger while respecting the unplumbed earth.

Despite the existing problem of food insecurity, World Food Day 2024 is basically a wake-up call to the international community. Coupled with the emerging appetite and nutritional insecurity crises, among other issues that persist, including geopolitical tensions geopolitics, climate change, and inflation rates, governments, industries, and other communities cannot afford to wait for more definite approaches to emerge and agree on new and durable ways of addressing food insecurity. With the right changes made to agricultural policies and with the help of advanced technologies, we can create a world, where hunger is no longer a problem for Millions.

Reference:

1. World Food Day: What it is and why it’s more important than ever – (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/10/world-food-day-what-is-it-why-do-we-need-it/)

Source-Medindia