Headlights on, engines rumbling, and escorted by motorcycle police, 20 trucks carrying more than 50 tons of staple food rolled across the Danube River this morning. The symbolic convoy through central Budapest kicked off World Food Day in Hungary, in what has become an annual reminder that not everyone has enough to eat.

As the convoy circled Heroes’ Square and came to a temporary halt on the city’s famed Olof Palme promenade, FAO and partners prepared for a press conference at the nearby Mucsarnok Museum. 

Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia presented the 2014 edition of The State of Food and Agriculture, with new data on food production across the region. The report showcases family-owned and -operated farms as engines of economic growth, models for smart management of natural resources, and essential innovators in the world’s drive to end hunger.

In Europe, Rakhmanin said, families “manage more than half of all farmland and guard the agro-biodiversity of soils, water and forests – resources that we are obliged to preserve for future generations.”

“These numbers speak for themselves,” he added. “Family farmers are the linchpin of world food security and hold the key to a sustainable and hunger-free future.”

Zsolt Feldman, Deputy State Secretary with Hungary’s Ministry of Agriculture, spoke about food security in the Hungarian context. 

“In Hungary the National Rural Strategy serves as the basis for a multifunctional agriculture, environment and landscape management,” he said. “Hungarian agriculture is able to produce valuable, healthy and safe food and other resources while preserving the quality of soils, water reserves, biodiversity, landscape and human livelihoods, community and culture.”

As FAO reports confirm, malnutrition and food insecurity now co-exist with obesity and other diet-related problems in most countries of the world. In Hungary and other developed countries, food banks provide an important “social safety net” for households in need.

The Hungarian Food Bank Association collects surplus food and distributes it to the needy through Hungarian charitable organizations, explained Association president Balazs Cseh. The Association believes, he said, “that more and more food surplus can be saved from being destroyed, and instead be given to the needy and utilized before the expiry date.”

The food truck convoy – which continued on to the Food Bank Association’s warehouses on the outskirts of Budapest – has been organized jointly by the Hungarian Food Bank Association and FAO for nine consecutive years now.

Other World Food Day events taking place in Hungary this year include a photo exhibition organized with Central European University, and a poster campaign in the Budapest metro system – both highlighting the importance of family farms.

16 October 2014, Budapest, Hungary