World food day (World Food Day), celebrated annually, was proclaimed in 1979 at a conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
The main goal of this Day is to raise the level of awareness of the population regarding the food problem existing in the world. And also today’s date is an occasion to reflect on what has been done, and what remains to be done to address a global challenge – ridding humankind of hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
The date of the Day was chosen as the date of formation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) October 16, 1945.
For the first time, the countries of the world officially proclaimed one of the most important tasks to eradicate hunger on the planet and create conditions for the development of sustainable agriculture that would be able to feed the world’s population.
Hunger and malnutrition have been found to undermine the gene pool of entire continents. In 45% of cases, infant mortality in the world is associated with malnutrition. Children in third world countries are born and grow up frail, mentally lagging behind. They are unable to concentrate on the lessons at school.
According to the FAO, 821 million people worldwide still suffer from hunger, despite the fact that enough food is produced to feed everyone. At the same time, 1,9 billion people are overweight, of whom 672 million are obese, and everywhere the adult obesity rate is growing at an accelerated rate.
On this day, various charity events are held, which are of great importance for alleviating the plight of the Third World countries. Active members of the society take part in various congresses and conferences on this day.
The holiday is also of great educational value and helps citizens to learn about the dire food situation in some countries. On this day, various peacekeeping organizations deliver aid to areas affected by natural disasters and natural disasters.
Since 1981, World Food Day has been accompanied by a specific theme that is different for each year. This was done in order to highlight the problems that require immediate solutions and to focus society on the priority tasks. So, the themes of the Day in different years were the words: “Youth against hunger”, “Millennium of liberation from hunger”, “International Alliance against Hunger”, “Agriculture and intercultural dialogue”, “The right to food”, “Achieving food security in the period crisis “,” Unity in the fight against hunger “,” Agricultural cooperatives feed the world “,” Family farming: feed the world – save the planet “,” Social protection and agriculture: breaking the vicious circle of rural poverty “,” Climate is changing, and together food and agriculture change with it ”,“ Let’s change the future of migration flows. Investing in food security and rural development ”,“ Healthy food for a world without hunger ”and others.