World Food Day 2021: FAO celebrates 'new momentum' on agri-food system

At World Food Day celebrations in the presence of Pope Francis in Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General noted the challenges of global hunger, climate crisis and COVID-19. Despite the predominant problems of food insecurity, the organisation hailed the 'new momentum' and energy behind the efforts to transform agri-food systems. This refers to the broad outlines of how the world needs to move forward to reshape food production structures mapped during the UN Food Systems Summit held last month, as mentioned in the statement released by the World Food Programme (WFP). 

Speaking on the occasion of World Food Day, Director General of FAO, QU Dongyu noted the ground-breaking achievements by the World Food Forum. The global movement that seeks to engage more youth to shape a better future for food, WFP stated. He also paid a tribute to all "Food Heroes" around the world who made immense contributions to work against all odds and ensure people's plates are filled with sufficient food. However, he noted that despite the sufficiency, last year at least 811 million people were afflicted by hunger. Paradoxically, another 2 billion are overweight due to improper diet. Lastly, he also pointed out that at least 14% of the food is lost in transit and another 17% is wasted during consumption.

'The power to change is in our hands': UN Chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also pointed out the disparities in the food production-consumption system. "The way we produce, consume and waste food is taking a heavy toll on our planet. It is putting historic pressure on natural resources climate and natural environment and costing is trillions of dollars a year," Guterres said. However, he asserted that the "power to change is in our hands."

As per the WFP statement, the UN chief's rallying call was echoed by the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Executive Director of WFP, David Beasley. "We are facing an unprecedented challenge to global food security right now. Will only succeed and ending hunger if we ensure Global food systems are fit for the 21st century," Beasley said.

Why is it important to reduce food waste?

Food waste not only undermines the sustainability of the world system but also indirectly adds to the climate crisis. When food is wasted all the resources-- water, land, energy-- invested in producing it is also wasted. Additionally, when the food is disposed of in landfills, this leads to greenhouse gas emissions, in turn, climate change. According to the UN, nearly 38% of energy is used in the global food system. Lastly, wastage of food also contributes to an increase in food prices across the world.

Image: Unsplash/ ANI (representative)