The FAO Representative at an exhibition booth in World Food Day celebrations 2021 in Taita-Taveta County, Kenya

This year’s World Food Day is being observed in Kenya with calls to transform agri-food systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to enough affordable, safe and nutritious food to lead active and healthy lives. It is an apt time for such a call considering the current challenging times.

This year World Food Day theme is “Our actions are our future. Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.” It recognises that everyone should get involved in improving how we produce and consume food. We are called upon to make decisions that support our agri-food systems”.

This year’s World Food Day is the second to be marked during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating impact on food security and added millions more to the number of people globally who suffer from hunger.

Kenya is currently  experiencing  drought that has since been declared a national disaster by H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, therefore exacerbating food insecurity and malnutrition. The future is not promising as forecasts show that the October and Novembers rains will be below average. Over 23 ASAL counties are facing a precarious food security crisis, with an estimated population of 2.1 million people in acute food insecurity phase and who require urgent humanitarian assistance due to the inadequate rains in 2021.

“FAO within UNITED FAMILY under the coordination of the Resident Coordinator, has heeded to the Government’s call for assistance to safeguard lives and is providing supplementary animal feeds to the most vulnerable pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. Already 32,000 bags of range cubes have been distributed in Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, Tana River and Wajir counties. This intervention targets 9, 000 households. An additional 24, 000 bags will be distributed in the course of this this month to 6, 000 households in Kitui, Makueni, Baringo, Samburu, Isiolo and Marsabit Counties.” Said Carla Mucavi FAO Kenya Representative during the World Food Day celebrations that were marked in Voi, Taita Taveta County. 

Food Systems Dialogues

The Food Systems Summit was recently convened at the UN General Assembly in New York, with

Kenya having contributed to the process through national and sub-national dialogues. The Summit’s

discourse focused on agri-food systems transformation, particularly in the ways people’s food is consumed

and produced; and helping food systems become more sustainable and equitable.

It was unanimously agreed that there is need to: 

• Support the innovation and design of appropriate de-risking and financing instruments for increased investment in agriculture particularly in Africa
• Increase the uptake of digital agricultural solutions.  Specifically, provision of relevant information to farmers and traders through national e-voucher programmes as well as extension and advisory services, market information systems and commodity exchange services.
• Improve the diversity of diets including fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat and fish, as well as grains.
• Increase the number of young people receiving school based agricultural education.
• Increase the number of women-owned and women-led agri-enterprises.
• Accelerate ecosystem restoration through agroforestry, reforestation and sustainable utilization of natural resources

Our actions are our future: solutions

Our focus and priority should be on long-term resilience building efforts. Hence the importance role of anticipatory action to ensure food and nutrition security; acting proactively through anticipatory actions rather than reactively to mitigate impacts of these crises on livelihoods and food security.

It is a call for action across sectors to ensure that our agri-food systems deliver enough affordable, nutritious and safe food for all. Now, more than ever, we need innovative solutions and strong partnerships.

• National and County Governments and institutions should make healthy diets a reality for all through strategic, integrated and inclusive approach across sectors through better policies and legislation.
• We need to invest more in Research and Development to make farming more technologically advanced, innovation in digital agriculture, and improve literacy rates among women which can go a long way in reducing hunger.
• We should work towards reducing food loss and waste. We all need to make food choices that improve both our health and that of our agri-food systems, respect food and food producers and join in global solidarity efforts, wherever possible.
• Farmers – Who are our Food Heroes - men and women in agriculture, fisheries and forestry - are our primary sources for nutritious foods. As guardians of the planet’s natural resources, their decisions lie at the roots of transforming agri-food systems.
• What are agri-food systems?

Agri-food systems cover the journey of food from growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, distributing, trading, buying, preparing, eating and disposing. It also includes non-food products such as cotton, forestry and biofuels.

About World Food Day 

World Food Day is held every year on 16^th October around the world to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

Find out more

Kenya World Food Day Panel Discussion https://youtu.be/84D2hjnjh8Q

World Food Day  https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/en

FAO World Food Day Communication Tool Kit Communication Toolkit (fao.org)

For more Information

Contact

Othieno Joseph

Communication Officer,

FAO Kenya.

Email: [email protected]

@FAOKenya