World Food Day Celebrations at FAO

17 Oct 2018

World Food Day celebrations on 16 October 2018, marked the 73^rd Anniversary of the founding of FAO. This year’s theme titled 'Our actions are our future.A #ZeroHunger world by 2030 is possible', emphasized collaboration toward achieving that goal.

In his speech addressing the Plenary Hall, the Director-General noted "We need to put in place food systems that provide healthy and nutritious food that are accessible and affordable for everyone," underlining that Zero Hunger is not only about feeding but also about nourishing people. While highlighting the need for “comprehensive education for children (7-17 years old) on food values” came at the heart of the speech of Queen Letizia of Spain at the opening morning ceremony that featured as well the three heads of the Rome-based agencies and the two Special Ambassadors for Nutrition and King Letsie III of Lesotho. Celebrations continued with by two high-level events, one in the morning focusing on challenges faced in achieving Zero Hunger and one in the afternoon addressing solutions for Zero Hunger.

Moving beyond headquarters, countries across the world have been marking this day with a wide range of activities. The WFD promotional video was played across cinemas in Mexico, while in the Middle East and North Africa region television channels like CNN and Cartoon Network aired the video. The WFD website offers colleagues the opportunity to learn more about these events worldwide and also learn more about this year’s theme.

The event coincides with a packed World Food Week that runs from 15 – 19 October with a number of high-level meetings and 58 exciting side events. World Food Week begins with the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) taking place from 15-19 October, and the launch of The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2018, a major annual flagship publication.The report states that migration must be a choice and not a necessity, and explores how migration is linked to food security. There’s an interesting quiz What you didn’t know about migration in the digital version of the report that highlights some of the misconceptions about migration –take the quiz and test your knowledge!