Sheba Ogalo and her husband harvest cassava on their farm in Chemelil. Facing harsh weather conditions, including drought, they have turned to cassava and other drought-resistant crops to sustain their livelihood. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS

By Robert Kibet
KITUI, Kenya , Oct 17 2024 (IPS)

Kenyan farmers have faced a turbulent year, caught between legislative changes and a devastating scandal. While the country’s Mung Bean Bill, aiming to regulate the lucrative mung bean industry, has moved to mediation, farmers are battling the fallout from the widespread distribution of counterfeit fertilizers that have jeopardized their crop yields and livelihoods.

The Mung Bean Bill is a response to the crop’s rising prominence in Kenya. Known locally as “Ndengu,” mung beans have gained traction due to their drought-resistant nature and high demand in both local and international markets. This legislation seeks to create a framework for stabilizing prices, standardizing quality, and ensuring fair trade practices. However, many farmers fear the bill will add to existing bureaucratic hurdles without addressing core issues such as the recent fertilizer scandal.

Among those affected is Lucy Mutuku, a smallholder farmer from Kibwezi, a semi-arid region in Eastern Kenya. With a weathered face and hands hardened by years of labor, Mutuku stands in her field, explaining her decision to venture into mung bean farming. “It was a diversification strategy,” she says, her voice carrying the resolve of someone who has seen many harvests. “Mung beans are drought-tolerant and using organic manure helps enhance soil fertility. Even with erratic rains, they provide a reliable source of protein for my family and surplus for the market.”

Mutuku’s journey took a dark turn when she became one of the many victims of the government’s subsidized fertilizer program. “Buying synthetic fertilizer has always been expensive,” she recounts, frustration lining her face. “When I heard about the government’s fair-priced option, I bought it quickly. But then I realized it was fake. My crops failed, and it’s disheartening because farming is my only income.”

The scandal’s impact has been widespread, with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) reporting that counterfeit fertilizers accounted for nearly 20 percent of agricultural inputs this season. This affected various crops, including mung beans, maize, and vegetables, devastating small-scale farmers who are now caught in a cycle of debt and uncertainty.

In Makueni County, Beatrice Mwangi, another farmer, invested heavily in mung beans, hoping for a lucrative harvest. With her eyes reflecting a mixture of hope and despair, she recalls the moment she realized the extent of the damage. “I was expecting a bumper harvest,” she says, “but my crops hardly grew. When the agricultural office confirmed the fertilizer was fake, it was a blow.” Now, like many others, she struggles to repay loans taken to purchase inputs, facing financial strain that threatens her family’s future.

Dominic Mbithi in Kitui, one of Kenya’s semi-arid lands, chose mung beans due to their low water requirements. Mbithi, a wiry man in his forties, employs zai pits, shallow basins that capture and conserve water. “This technique helps me maximize water use,” he says, crouching beside one of his pits, examining the soil. Despite the challenges, he’s managed to increase his yields and even engages in value addition by producing mung bean flour, which he sells to local schools and health centers.

Over in Taita Taveta, Joyce Mwikali transitioned from maize and sorghum to mung beans. A determined woman in her fifties, she walks through her sandy-soiled farm with a pride that belies the struggles she faces.

“Mung beans have a shorter growing season and thrive here,” she explains. Through rotational farming and compost use, Mwikali has managed to reduce her dependency on rain-fed agriculture. She now participates in a cooperative that helps with market access, ensuring better prices for her produce.

Michael Muriuki, farming on the eastern slopes of Mt. Kenya in Meru, utilizes drip irrigation to maintain a consistent water supply for his mung beans during dry spells. With a thoughtful demeanor, he shares how this extra income has enabled him to invest in better equipment. “Drip irrigation and integrated pest management have been game-changers for me,” he says, his gaze fixed on the neatly lined plants.

In Tharaka-Nithi, Lydia Njeri began growing mung beans to combat climate change’s effects on traditional crops. Using early planting and certified seeds, she has improved her household’s nutrition and found a reliable market for her surplus produce.

“Selling to processors who make mung bean products like noodles and flour gives me a steady income,” she notes, her expression softening as she describes the positive changes in her community.

Even though the National Assembly rejected the Mung Bill 2022, at the second reading stage proponents argue it could offer a regulatory framework to protect farmers from fraudulent agricultural inputs.

However, critics like Dr. John Mburu, an agricultural economist, caution that legislation alone is insufficient. “We need a comprehensive approach,” he emphasizes, “including stricter enforcement against counterfeit products, farmer education, and better quality control infrastructure.”

The bill will now proceed to mediation, according to the National Assembly.

The farmers’ stories underscore the deep-seated vulnerabilities within Kenya’s agricultural sector. While the Mung Bean Bill may offer a glimmer of hope, immediate action is required to strengthen regulatory oversight, enhance farmer awareness, and ensure the authenticity of agricultural inputs. The future of these farmers—and the nation’s food security—depends on it.

As the debate continues, the voices of farmers like Mutuku, Mwangi, Mbithi, Mwikali, Muriuki, and Njeri must guide the development of policies that truly support and protect Kenya’s agricultural community. Only then can such crises be prevented in the future.

The 2024 Mung Bean Congress, held in Bangkok, Thailand, brought together 110 stakeholders from 23 countries. This gathering was a platform for sharing current research and discussing future priorities, including studies supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Dr. Eri Huttner, ACIAR’s Research Program Manager for crops, emphasized the significant potential impact of their investment in mung bean improvement research on partner countries, highlighting the crop’s growing global importance.

As the debate continues, the voices of the most affected—the farmers—mustn’t be overlooked. Their firsthand experiences and insights should be at the forefront of developing policies that truly support and protect Kenya’s agricultural community. This approach is essential to prevent such crises from reoccurring.

Back in 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) spearheaded this initiative, which significantly increased public awareness of pulses’ nutritional and environmental advantages while emphasizing their function in sustainable food production.

Building on the success of this celebration and recognizing the potential of pulses to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Burkina Faso proposed the observance of World Pulse Day. Consequently, in 2019, the General Assembly proclaimed February 10 as World Pulse Day, further underscoring the vital role pulses play in global food security and sustainability.

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World Food Day 2024

The world must take action to improve food security, which is at risk due to conflict and climate change. Credit, Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Oct 15 2024 (IPS)

High levels of hunger will continue for another 136 years in many developing countries, according to a new report assessing global hunger.

The report, the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI), paints a grim picture, predicting that global hunger levels will remain high for another century. If more progress is not made to end hunger, it will continue to reverse many development gains. The report blames the combined crises of conflict, climate change, high food prices and mounting debt, all of which are denying billions of people the right to adequate food. 

Hunger Here To Stay

Published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, on October 10, 2024, the GHI reveals that at least 64 countries are unlikely to reach low hunger levels until 2160 if the current pace of change continues.

Hunger is at serious or alarming levels in 42 countries, with conflicts exacerbating food crises in places like Gaza and Sudan, where famine is already present in North Darfur, the report found.

Now in its 19th year, the GHI ranks countries based on recorded levels of undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality. Of the 136 countries examined, 36 face serious hunger levels, while six at the bottom of the index—Somalia, Yemen, Chad, Madagascar, Burundi, and South Sudan—have alarming hunger levels. In 2023 alone, 281.6 million people in 59 countries and territories faced crisis-level or acute food insecurity, including Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and Burkina Faso.

The report warns that the chances of meeting the UN’s goal of zero hunger by 2030 are grim.

Concern Worldwide’s Chief Executive, David Regan, described the situation as disappointing that the 2030 goal was now out of reach.

“Our response should be to redouble our efforts to regain momentum,” Regan told IPS. “We need global action to tackle hunger.”

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the regions most affected by hunger. According to the GHI, about 22 countries in Africa are facing serious hunger levels.  Of the top ten countries cited for having serious to alarming hunger levels, five are in Africa.

David Regan, Chief Executive, Concern Worldwide. Credit: Concern worldwide

Conflict, Climate Change and High Debt Fuel Hunger

Large-scale armed conflicts, climate change, high food prices, market disruptions, economic downturns, and debt crises in many low- and middle-income countries have combined to complicate efforts to reduce hunger, the report found.

“Conflict can only be resolved where the external stakeholders that are typically fueling the conflict, step away from using conflict to acquire the resources or to increase the instability of the most fragile states,” Regan told IPS. “Climate change will not stop until those responsible for the largest emissions reduce them. It is not possible to say that the human right to food is being respected globally when powerful nations are clearly not playing their role in addressing its causes.”

Regan criticized wealthy nations for not playing their part in addressing global hunger, stating that while they have not turned their backs on the issue, political  interest in solving hunger has waned in recent years.

The report further notes that more than 115 million people globally are internally displaced—some have been forced to migrate as a result of persecution, conflict violence and many more displaced by weather-related disasters.

The wars in Gaza and Sudan have led to exceptional food crises, the report stated, flagging rising inequality between and within countries.  Although extreme poverty in middle-income countries has decreased, income inequality remains persistently high, and poverty in the poorest countries is worse than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gender Equality, Key to Food Security

The report also draws attention to the link between gender inequality, food insecurity, and climate change, noting that these factors combined have put communities and countries under extreme stress.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu delivers his speech during the opening session of 29th Session of the Committee on Agriculture. Credit: FAO/Cristiano Minichiello

“Governments must invest in and promote gender equality and climate change and recognize and deliver on the right to food so that all people are assured the right to food,” Regan said.

Ahead of World Food Day, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has echoed the call for swift action to eliminate hunger and ensure everyone has access to safe, nutritious food.

The World Food Day is being marked under the theme Right to food for a better life and a better future, which underscores the urgency to provide varied and healthy food to all.

FAO Director General Qu Dongyu noted that 730 million people are facing hunger due to the global challenges caused by man-made and natural disasters. Besides, more than 2.8 billion people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet.

“There is no time to lose, we must take immediate action, we must act together,” Dongyu urged, reiterating that the right to food is a basic human right.

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World Food Day 2024

By External Source
Oct 14 2024 (IPS-Partners)

 
The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed more than the global population.

Yet around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world.

In 2023, nearly 282 million people across 59 countries faced acute food insecurity.

This was an increase of 24 million people since 2022.

Several factors exacerbate the problem.

Weather shocks to global conflicts impact the poor and vulnerable most severely.

So do economic downturns, enduring inequality, and the legacy of a global pandemic.

Many of the affected are agricultural households – reflecting widening inequality everywhere.

Food is the third most basic human need after air and water.

Everyone should have the right to adequate food.

This right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Yet 2.8 billion people in the world are unable to afford a healthy diet.

Unhealthy diets are the leading cause of all forms of malnutrition.

Undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity now exist in most countries.

Malnutrition is now cutting across socio-economic classes.

More vulnerable people are often forced to rely on staple foods or less expensive foods.

Others suffer from the unavailability of fresh or varied foods.

For those fortunate enough, opting for convenience is simple.

Importantly, the information they need to choose a healthy diet is scarce.

This year’s World Food Day theme is based on the “Right to foods for a better life and better future”.

A greater diversity of nutritious foods should be available in our fields, in our markets, and on our tables.

For the benefit of all.

Ongoing violence, climate change, desertification, and tension over natural resources are all worsening hunger and poverty across Chad—and also across Africa. Credit: UNDP/Aurelia Rusek

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 2024 (IPS)

A landmark report released last July by five UN agencies— the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN children’s agency UNICEF—outlined the setbacks in fighting global hunger and warned that the world has fallen behind by more than 15 years in its relentless battle against food scarcities, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009.

The future seems virtually bleak, particularly if current trends continue, when over 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, half of them in Africa. And the UN is also unlikely to meet Goal 2 of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at ending hunger worldwide by 2030.

The UN also points out a cruel paradox: that the world produces enough food to feed everyone, but nearly 20% of it is lost or wasted before it’s eaten.

Poor storage facilities on farms can lead to crop loss due to pests and mold. In rich countries, food waste often happens in the kitchen when food is prepared but not eaten, or left to spoil in the fridge.

Providing a different perspective, Joseph Chamie, a consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division, told IPS in addition to the environment, climate change, technologies, social organization and conflict, population remains a major factor impacting the food crisis in many countries.

Rapid population growth, he pointed out, intensifies the overall demand for food. World population growth means that food production needs to increase to meet demand.

“Rapid population growth can lead to increasing levels of food insecurity due to a scarcity of resources. While the world produces enough food to feed its current population of 8 billion, too often this food does not reach those in need or they cannot access it,” said Chamie, author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

Over the past five decades, the world’s population doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion today. And as world population has increased, the number of people in the world facing food insecurity has increased, with more than 800 million people going to bed hungry each night.

Even in developed countries, he pointed out, too many people face food insecurity because they cannot afford to purchase food or have limited access to food resources.

By 2060 world population is projected to increase to 10 billion with most of that growth occurring in countries with the highest levels of food insecurity.

With the highest proportion facing hunger, Africa’s current population of 1.5 billion is growing rapidly and is expected to reach 2 billion in a dozen years and 3 billion in forty years, he said.

“Unfortunately, a world free of hunger by 2030, Goal 2 of the SDGs, is unlikely to be achieved due to major global and national trends, including rapid population growth in many developing countries”, declared Chamie.

Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), and UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights said: “These hunger figures are a major wakeup call.”

Global hunger remains catastrophically high, with 733 million people still going to bed hungry every day – 36% more than a decade ago. And 2.8 billion people unable to afford a healthy diet – meaning for one in three, wages are too low or social protection too weak to have adequate nutrition, he said.

“This is not just a blip, the global industrial food system is disastrously vulnerable to increasing climate, conflict and economic shocks – with climate change increasingly pounding farmers. Building climate-resilient food systems is now a life-or-death matter. As is establishing social protection floors and ensuring workers are paid living wages.

“We desperately need a new recipe for addressing hunger – based on diverse agroecological food production and localized food markets instead of global industrial food chains, and social protection schemes that guarantee the right to food for the world’s poorest,” declared De Schutter.

Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director, The Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank headquartered in Oakland, California, told IPS despite the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine, the world has produced all-time records of food in recent years, which has not prevented the rise in food prices and the persistence of an unbearable level of world hunger.

Reducing waste is important but should not let governments lose sight of two fundamental policy issues that require decisive action, he noted.

First, the use of food commodities for non-food uses is massive and growing fast, with animal feed and agrofuels representing respectively 38 percent 18 percent of cereals used in the world.

“This is happening at a high cost for humanity, with commodities unavailable for human consumption but also land grabbed from Indigenous and local communities, the devastation of forests, waters, and biodiversity and the pollution by chemical and fossil-fuel based intensive industrial agriculture”.

Second, he pointed out, whereas food is available, it is often not affordable for poor households, even in wealthy countries where hunger is on the rise. Several international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have showed that the 2022 rise in food prices, which threatened access to food for billions around the world, was due to a large extent to the significant increase in profit margins for agri-food corporations.

All the large transnational actors in the sector have enjoyed record profits in the past few years after increasing their sale prices.

Consumers can relatively easily reduce their own food waste but this should not be a distraction from the real challenge, which is for them to mobilize as citizens and take back control of their food systems, he said.

“Governments have mostly overlooked the above issues and many prominent ones, starting with the Biden administration, keep calling for more food production. This is a case of willful blindness, which goes against all the evidence that the problem is not the amount of food produced but what we do with it and who controls and benefits from the production and the trade of food commodities”.

Time has come for a global treaty on the non-proliferation of industrial meat production and agrofuels to curb the seemingly endless expansion of agricultural production for non-food uses, Mousseau argued

“The other urgency is to act more decisively on a global taxation mechanism of the large food and agro-chemical corporations that would limit their speculative behaviours and redistribute part of their revenues as global solidarity to address both world hunger and the climate crisis,” he declared.

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World Food Day 2024

Credit: ESCAP

By Areum Han and Yi-Ann Chen
BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct 14 2024 (IPS)

While the impact of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine on food system disruptions was widely covered, underlying food system vulnerabilities across Asia and the Pacific had been steadily growing long before these crises unfolded.

A comprehensive food-system risk assessment framework and index, INFER, developed by ESCAP and the World Food Programme, points to the rising populations that are particularly exposed to food system disruptions. Of the six recognized dimensions of food security, trends in the risks related to markets and financial policies are the most concerning.

Amid record-breaking food price surges caused by supply chain disruptions and energy price increases, people in the Asia-Pacific region experienced the most significant rise among all regions in the cost of a healthy diet in 2022, leaving approximately one in three people in Asia and the Pacific unable to afford a healthy diet.

There are long-term implications; ill-health is a major contributor to poverty and losses in economic productivity.

The impacts of these recent disruptions underline the need for a closer look at the disruptive potential of climate change. According to ESCAP’s Risk and Resilience Portal, over half of the climate impacts are borne by the agriculture sector, due to drought, floods and high temperatures.

East and North-East Asia are at risk of the highest total agricultural losses, exceeding $250 million across all climate scenarios while South-East Asia is expected to experience the greatest GDP impact, with potential agricultural losses reaching up to 6 percent of its GDP.

Climate-related events threaten agricultural output and place immense pressure on the livelihoods of those dependent on the sector. ILO estimates that approximately 363 million people in Asia and the Pacific are employed in the agriculture sector, representing almost one-third of the region’s workforce. These workers, the majority of them informally employed and without rights and access to social protection, face heightened risks of income loss and food insecurity.

But the impact of disruptions extends far beyond. Breakdowns in food production, aggregation, processing, distribution and consumption ripple through economies, affecting the livelihoods of millions of people—from urban consumers to small businesses and global markets.

Food system crises impact the poorest households the most as they spend a much higher share of income on food, pushing the near-poor as well as those that had just escaped poverty back into poverty.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered a surge in social protection investments and interventions, demonstrated the critical role of social protection systems in ensuring people’s well-being during times of crisis. Universal, life cycle and multi-pillared social protection systems can ensure minimum income security for all people, build their resilience and increase food security.

Non-contributory child or maternity benefit, for example, could mitigate the negative impacts of food insecurity on children and mothers of newborns and safeguard them against climate-induced disruptions in food systems and subsequent crises.

Instead of relying on ad hoc approaches or one-time responses to sudden crises, adaptive and shock-responsive social protection systems, grounded in strong legislative and policy frameworks, offer one of the most effective means of enhancing people’s resilience.

By increasing the benefit level or expanding the coverage of existing benefits in the events or following shocks and crisis, these social protection mechanisms—whether through cash transfers or social insurance— help prevent poverty traps and allow communities to recover more quickly.

ILO estimates that that only 55 per cent of the population in Asia and the Pacific has access to at least one social protection benefit, excluding health care, leaving 45 per cent without any protection. According to ESCAP’s SPOT Simulator providing universal non-contributory social protection benefits across the lifecycles covering children, persons with disabilities, mothers of newborns, and older persons would reach on average 88 per cent of the population in the countries of Asia and the Pacific and could reduce poverty by up to 84 per cent (figure X).

Despite the potential reach of universal non-contributory social protection benefits and their role as a bulwark against poverty and food insecurity, countries in the region on average spend only 8.2 per cent of GDP on social protection, compared to the global average of 12.9 per cent according to ILO.

Figure X. Simulated impact of various levels of social protection benefits on poverty rates in 27 countries, using international poverty lines

Source: ESCAP SPOT Simulator (2024). Available at https://spot.unescap.org/simulator (accessed on 22 May 2024).

ESCAP’s latest flagship publication, Protecting our Future Today: Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific, sets forth social protection as a powerful policy tool to build resilience against future shocks and disruptions that threaten populations across Asia and the Pacific while enabling a just transition to a net-zero emissions future and accelerating inclusive socioeconomic development.

Ongoing megatrends and emerging risks, alongside growing food systems vulnerabilities, will continue to strain the social fabric of Asia and the Pacific, especially for those already in vulnerable situations. In the face of these challenges, the transformative power of social protection will be key to shielding people from future risks, fostering resilience and empowering the people of Asia and the Pacific for a just future.

Areum Han is Associate Social Affairs Officer, Social Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Yi-Ann Chen is Associate Economic Affairs Officer, Environment and Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

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World Food Day 2024

Credit: Food Tank

By Danielle Nierenberg
BALTIMORE, Maryland USA, Oct 14 2024 (IPS)

World Food Day seems like it should be a time to celebrate. A day to eat delicious meals and enjoy the rich traditions and cultures of food around the globe.

But it’s difficult to celebrate when conflict, the climate crisis, and our biodiversity loss crisis leave at least 733 million people hungry around the world. Dr. Evan Fraser from the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph calls these cascading crises. And the results are dire.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2023, one in 11 people worldwide faced hunger last year. And one in five people in Africa experience hunger.

If current trends continue, more than 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, with half of these folks living on the continent of Africa, according to FAO and four additional United Agencies. That’s less than 6 years away, which means we have a lot of work to do.

Fortunately, we already know what works. The theme of this year’s World Food Day is Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future. Everyone deserves healthy, nutrient rich, safe, and delicious food.

And the United Nations says, “A greater diversity of nutritious foods should be available in our fields, in our markets, and on our tables, for the benefit of all.” I would add that we also need a diversity of people, practices and thought to help feed the world.

This year the prestigious World Food Prize will be awarded to the Special Envoy for Food Security, Dr. Cary Fowler, and agricultural scientist Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin. These two individuals, according to the World Food Prize Foundation, are being awarded for “their extraordinary leadership in preserving and protecting the world’s heritage of crop biodiversity and mobilizing this critical resource to defend against threats to global food security.”

And Dr. Fowler is working to encourage farmers and governments to grow “opportunity crops” like cowpea, millet, sorghum, and other ancient and resilient foods. These crops have often been overlooked in favor of maize, rice, and other so-called staples, but they have, again, the opportunity to solve a multitude of problems. They build soil health and if storage and processing can improve in places like sub-Saharan Africa, they can be profitable.

Another solution—and it should be obvious—is empowering women and girls. We are systematically underutilizing at least 50 percent of the world’s population. Equal rights for women are not only an ethical and moral imperative, but can help solve the hunger crisis.

According to FAO, if women had the same access to resources as men—education, access to credit and financial services, extension, and respect—they could lift as many as 100 million people out of hunger. And equal rights are good for the economy. And according to Betty Chinyamunyamu of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi, “gender integration makes good business sense.”

In addition, women are often growing the foods that are actually nutritious—including those opportunity crops, but also fruits and vegetables that contribute to agrobiodiversity. “Women’s empowerment has a positive impact on agricultural production, food security, diets and child nutrition,” states FAO’s Status of Women in Agrifood Systems. Making sure that women are empowered in all aspects of their lives just makes common sense.

Moreover, farmers—small, medium, and large—literally need a seat at the table, from in person input at international dialogues like COP29, the U.N. Climate Change Conference, to co-creating technologies with scientists and entrepreneurs that will actually solve the problems that farmers are experiencing in fields and ranches.

Good Nature Agro in Zambia, for example, is developing with farmers ways to prevent post-harvest losses and more sustainably manage their farmland. And the organization Global Alliance of Latinos in Agriculture aims to create a world where farmers and ranchers thrive globally—and they plan to bring hundreds of producers to COP30 in Belem, Brazil next year.

This World Food Day (October 16), the Arrell Food Institute is bringing together agri-food leaders and experts dive into solutions like diversity, empowering women, and putting farmers in the drivers’ seat to create a more safe and sustainable global food system. A food system that works for everyone.

Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, World Food Day will actually be a day to celebrate.

Danielle Nierenberg is President and Founder, Food Tank, which describes itself as a global community that inspires, motivates, and activates positive transformation in how we produce and consume food.

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World Food Day 2024

Credit: FAO

By QU Dongyu
ROME, Oct 11 2024 (IPS)

This year the theme for World Food Day is “Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future.” It’s a timely reminder that all people have the right to adequate foods. But how do we get from a right to a reality? And why is it so important to think about not just having sufficient food, but also the diversity of diets?

That’s why I speak of “Foods” in the plural, emphasizing this diversity, as well as food availability, food accessibility and food affordability for all. Right now, the world’s farmers produce more than enough food to feed the global population in terms of calories.

Yet around 730 million people are facing hunger due to man-made and natural disasters, including conflict, recurrent weather shocks, inequalities and economic downturns.

Billions lack healthy diets
Another harsh reality is that over 2.8 billion people in the world are unable to afford a healthy diet, which is a leading cause of all forms of malnutrition.

Credit: FAO

We need a greater diversity of nutritious and affordable foods to be available in our fields, fishing nets, markets and on our tables, for the benefit of all.

This is not just about populations’ nutritional requirements, but also about ensuring that our agrifood systems are efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, so that they can be respectful of traditional food cultures and healthy diets based on science and in line with personal preferences.

Another crucial consideration is the long-term health and sustainability of the environment on which we rely to produce these foods and which needs biodiversity to thrive.

The right to foods will not in itself fill stomachs or put more diverse diets on plates. But it does help frame our collective aspirations for the kind of just and equitable world we want to live in. It creates concrete obligations for governments and key partners to fulfil, and it should encourage all of us to do our part to ensure it is realized.

This is the reason for action. Now.

FAO’s role
At the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), we are working hard to turn this right into a reality, even in the face of a range of challenges. In conflict zones, access to foods is being disrupted, leading to malnutrition and hunger.

In these and other hunger hotspots, FAO’s efforts are focused on rebuilding agricultural infrastructure to ensure food availability and accessibility for long-term food security, with all tools and channels.

Aside from such emergency interventions, key FAO programmes such as the Hand in Hand initiative, One Country One Priority Product, Blue Economy and Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCPs) also target medium to long term food security and nutrition across a wide range of countries.

In many places, dietary changes and market concentration driven by globalization have led to increased health issues, including obesity and diabetes. School feeding programmes supported by FAO play an important role in helping address these challenges, as they source food from local farmers and ensure children receive nutritious meals.

In many countries, across all regions, FAO is working with fishing communities and local governments to expand social protection and economic inclusion of the most vulnerable by helping them diversify their production, build alternative income sources and connect to new markets.

Inflation, particularly during periods of economic instability, can make food unaffordable. In some African countries for example FAO’s initiatives include cash transfers to the poorest households, helping them afford food during hyperinflation.

The climate crisis poses a significant threat to global food security. Erratic weather patterns and natural disasters can devastate crops and livestock. For example, in some countries in Asia FAO has introduced climate-smart agriculture techniques to help farmers adapt to changing climatic conditions, ensuring consistent food production.

Furthermore, by working closely with governments, FAO helps develop legal frameworks and has assisted in drafting national policies towards ensuring food security and nutrition for all.

Collective action needed
But it’s not just governments which we call upon to engage in this battle. Collective action can drive substantial change, with global collaboration from all sectors, and all partners – governments, the private sector, academia, civil society, and individuals.

And especially the youth – because a food secure future is their right. They design and decide the future. All calls from the UN Summit of the Future is determined by their actions.

Farmers can make a difference by practising sustainable agriculture that enhances biodiversity and manages natural resources responsibly. Businesses can make nutritious and diverse foods available more affordably.

Academia and civil society can hold governments accountable by collecting data, identifying areas for improvement, implementing scientech solutions and measuring progress towards targets.

Science and innovation including IT, Biotechnology, AI and Digital Agriculture, and others, will be a decisive force for agrifood systems transformation. Finally, all of us as consumers can and should play our role in reducing the “foodprint”, practicing healthy lifestyles, raising our voices to influence decision-making, reducing food waste, and promoting food diversity.

This World Food Day let us renew our commitment to build more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems that honour everyone’s right to varied and nutritious foods.

Together, we can get back on track to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – our collective pledge to take action for people, planet, and prosperity.

We can accomplish this by transforming global agrifood systems to ensure the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – leaving no one behind.

Our Actions are our Future.

Dr QU Dongyu is Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

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Excerpt:

World Food Day 2024