The three food and agriculture based organizations of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) along with other strategic partners came together to mark World Food Day 2018 at the UN House in New Delhi.

Through this event, the agencies aimed to increase awareness on Sustainable Development Goal 2- meeting the challenge of zero hunger in the world by 2030.  Considering that in India more than 38 percent of children under five are stunted, 21 percent wasted and 58.4 percent children aged 6-59 months are anemic, the theme of the event was ‘Sustainable Solutions to Food and Nutrition Security for achieving Agenda 2030 in India’.

Two panel discussions were held on the theme, one focused on policy perspective and the other on what the private industry can do.

During the panel discussion on the policy perspective, Mr Ravikant, Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said, that ‘hunger is a problem of rightful distribution-qualnity and quality. Nutritious food in the right quality has to reach out to everyone’.

Mr. Shichiri, FAO representative in India spoke of the progress made by India in terms of prioritizing agriculture and steps taken to ensure food and nutrition security of everyone, and also highlighted the critical issue of malnutrition and the role of agriculture in fighting malnutrition and climate change. He mentioned that Zero Hunger is at the heart of FAO mandate and FAO in India is taking steps to promote sustainable agro-ecological practices in agriculture.

Other participants in this panel discussion included, Mr Pawan Kumar Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, who said that food quality and safety is critical to achieving Zero Hunger. Mr Siebe Schuur, Counsellor for Agriculture Nature and Food Quality, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Panel 2 moderated by Mr Ankit Kawatra, Founder, Feeding India, constituted of the private sector including Ms Anahita Dhondy, Chef Manager, SodaBottleOpenerWala, Mr Karan Tanna, Founder and CEO, Yellow Tie Hospitality and Ms Dipanwita Chakraborty, Regional CSR Lead, Cargill India discussed ways in which the private sector can contribute in curbing food wastage and promote wholesome and nutritious food.

Chefs, food and beverage business units, non-profit institutions and corporations came together to learn and showcase ways in which food production can be made more sustainable. 6 organisations were also awarded for innovations they have made in food production that were displayed at the event.