ROME: The world produces food enough to feed every individual on earth, but a third of every year’s agricultural crop is wasted, according to a Kuwaiti official.
Addressing a Food and Agriculture Organization session, Kuwait’s delegation head and permanent representative at the organization, Yousef Juhail said that World Food Day on Sunday should promote communities’ nutrition awareness, and stimulate individuals and institutions to enhance global food security and stop the spread of hunger, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Saturday.
Juhail speech came as FAO celebrates its sixth anniversary and World Food Day.
KUNA said the event was attended by the Kuwaiti delegation, officials representing the organization member states and dignitaries, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Juhail said that the new World Food Day logo, “leaving no one behind,” highlighted a call for action on various fronts to combat poverty, tackle malnutrition and fight inequality as part of the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development strategy.
In his inaugural address, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said: “In the shadow of the emerging hunger crisis gripping the globe, states should seek collective action to build a better future where peoples will be able to have access to food regularly.”
About 828 million people were threatened by hunger in 2021, while 3.1 billion people will struggle to afford healthy nutrition in the coming years, he said.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said millions of people worldwide are deprived of a fair share of the global food output.
Meanwhile, Guterres said in a video address: “World Food Day coincides with critical conditions worldwide at the nutrition level, urging stakeholders to abstain from despair and resort to action.”
In a statement read on behalf of Pope Francis, the Vatican envoy warned that the world is engaged in a “third global war,” urging stakeholders “not to leave any one behind” in efforts to secure necessities for nations and communities across the globe.
Chairman of the International Fund for Agricultural Development Alvaro Lario called for increased aid for “small farmers” who secure nutrition for communities, despite their hard living conditions.
David Beasley, the World Food Programme’s executive director, warned that global food production would be badly affected in the coming months due to conflicts and climate change.
The FAO has called for renewed efforts to achieve the goals of the 2020 sustainable development agenda by improving laborers’ living standards, gender equality and social solidarity, and by tackling child labor.
