World Food Day (WFD) 2013, October 16

“Sustainable Food System  for Food Security and Nutrition” is the theme of World Food Day (WFD) 2013

 
Sustainable food systems are one core element of bringing hunger to an end. In his message for World Food Day 2013, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva says we'll also need to ensure access to food all year round, to eliminate food wastage and child stunting and while doubling smallholder production and profits.

World Food Day, from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), hits Oct. 16, 2013, once again bringing awareness to the political need to end hunger. This year, the day is focused on sustainable food systems, asking, "What would a sustainable food system look like?... What would need to change to move us in that direction?"

About the World Food Week 2013
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On a large scale, the need for sustainable food systems is evident: Most recently, a United Nations reports found that 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted a year, wasting water, land, and money. Italy alone loses almost $12 billion in wasted food every year, another report found.
Meanwhile, the UN reports that almost 870 million people are "chronically undernourished" and 165 million children under the age of 5 are stunted thanks to malnourishment, while 1.4 billion people are overweight, sometimes because of vitamin deficiencies themselves.
Plenty of food waste occurs even before food gets to the consumer, the FAO reports. In developing countries, food waste often occurs because of financial and technical constraints in harvesting and storage. In developed countries, food is wasted because producers, retailers, and consumers toss out food that is still edible and usable.

Here, five ways to change your habits to fight food waste in your own kitchen:

1. Stop Trying to Get the Perfect Tomato
FAO reports that in a developed country, almost 300 million tons of food is thrown out because it's deemed "unworthy" for consumption, whether it's because the fruit is shaped funny or the tomato isn't as red as commercial tomatoes are expected to be. "This is more than the total net food production of sub-Saharan Africa, and would be sufficient to feed the estimated 870 million people hungry in the world," José Graziano da Silva, FAO director-general, said in a press release. Similarly, understand the difference between "sell-by" and "best before." Normally, "use-by" is the important one to follow.

2. Eat Your Leftovers
Sometimes, casseroles will taste better the next day as the flavors meld all together. Sometimes, a leftover roast chicken will go perfectly with some peppers on tacos (better yet, use the bones to make soup). Clean out your fridge, freeze fresh produce you won't get around to eating, and save yourself some cooking hassle (and some money) in the days to come.

3. Start Thinking About Alternative Proteins
Don't just stick with chicken breast; consider buying a whole chicken and breaking it down yourself for several different meals. Buying whole means using the whole chicken, which means nothing will go to waste. The chicken feet? Perfect for making stock. The UN has, after all, pinpointed bugs as the next big protein.

4. Compost
Composting reduces the environmental impact of food waste, while potentially recycling nutrients to help more food grow. Food waste thrown into landfills doesn't end up composting; composting requires light and air, neither of which is provided at landfills. According to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city alone sends 1.2 million tons of food waste to landfills, costing taxpayers $80 per ton (that's $96 million a year).

5. Empower the Small Farmer
According to Heifer International, there are 650 milion small farmers worldwide, who produce 80 percent of the developing world's food. The problem? Many live below the poverty line. Look to support organizations that work with small farmers worldwide, and focus on shopping from artisanal producers who are committed to creating better products. Read more about the "New Local" movement here.

Join the forum : World Food Day - October 16

Watch the videos : Activties for Word Food Day 2013 

Links :

• World Food Day
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• World Summit on Food Security 2009
• World Food Programme
• Child In Need Institute agency working in India to combat malnutrition
• International Fund for Agricultural Development
• International Alliance Against Hunger
• Friends of the World Food Program United States agency helping raise funds and awareness about global hunger
• World Food Day Theme

Hunger: The World's Greatest Solvable Problem

6 Reasons The Next Generation Needs Us To Solve Hunger

 


Here are six facts and stats that illustrate this point:

1. Science has proven that a child’s first 1,000 days – in the womb and up to 2 years old – are critical to their physical and mental development.  Children who are critically undernourished suffer irreversible damage.

2. Nourished women have healthier babies whose immune systems are stronger for life. Conversely, undernourished mothers pass malnutrition on to the next generation by giving birth to smaller, weaker babies.

3. Proper nutrition during the first two years of life can result in an increase in lifetime earnings by as much as 46 percent. (J. Hoddinott, The Lancet).

4. The combination of low birth weight, stunting and iodine deficiency can result in a reduction of up to 30 points in IQ and the body’s inability to resist disease for life. (World Bank).

5. Studies show it is more difficult for children to learn without adequate food and nutrition. There are 66 million primary school-age children who attend classes hungry across the developing world.

6. A  third of all deaths in children under the age of five in developing countries are linked to hunger. (UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality).

15 March 2012

Secretary-General SG/SM/14163 ENV/DEV/1262 OBV/1075

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Unwise Use of Water Will Result in Persisting Hunger, Drought, Political Instability, Secretary General Warns in Observance Message

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Water Day, to be observed on 22 March:

Over the coming decades, feeding a growing global population and ensuring food and nutrition security for all will depend on increasing food production.  This, in turn, means ensuring the sustainable use of our most critical finite resource — water.

The theme of this year’s World Water Day is water and food security.  Agriculture is by far the main user of freshwater.  Unless we increase our capacity to use water wisely in agriculture, we will fail to end hunger and we will open the door to a range of other ills, including drought, famine and political instability.

In many parts of the world, water scarcity is increasing and rates of growth in agricultural production have been slowing.  At the same time, climate change is exacerbating risk and unpredictability for farmers, especially for poor farmers in low-income countries who are the most vulnerable and the least able to adapt.

These interlinked challenges are increasing competition between communities and countries for scarce water resources, aggravating old security dilemmas, creating new ones and hampering the achievement of the fundamental human rights to food, water and sanitation.  With nearly 1 billion people hungry and some 800 million still lacking a safe supply of freshwater, there is much we must do to strengthen the foundations of local, national, and global stability.

Guaranteeing sustainable food and water security for all will require the full engagement of all sectors and actors.  It will entail transferring appropriate water technologies, empowering small food producers and conserving essential ecosystem services.  It will require policies that promote water rights for all, stronger regulatory capacity and gender equality.  Investments in water infrastructure, rural development and water resource management will be essential.

We should all be encouraged by the renewed political interest in food security, as evidenced by the high priority given to this issue by the agendas of the G-8 and G-20, the emphasis on the nexus of food, water and energy in the report of my Global Sustainability Panel, and the growing number of countries pledging to Scale Up Nutrition.

On this World Water Day, I urge all partners to fully use the opportunity provided by the “ Rio+20” United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.  In Rio, we need to connect the dots between water security and food and nutrition security, in the context of a green economy.  Water will play a central role in creating the future we want.

International Women’s Day 2012

The UN theme for International Women’s Day 2012 is Empower Women – End Hunger and Poverty.

How does international price volability effect domestic economies and food security ?

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 2011

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High and volatile food prices make poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity. Kostas Stamoulis, Director, Agricultural Development Economics Division, FAO, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, talks about the impact of price swings and what can be done.