FAO: World Food Day coming up

he World Food Day 2018 (WFD) – marked each year on 16 October – highlights the need to step up efforts to end hunger as, globally, chronic hunger and malnutrition are on the rise again.

FAO and its WFD partners are calling for all people to work more closely together to create opportunities so that everyone can lead a healthy, productive life – hence, this year’s WFD slogan: “Our actions are our future”.

FAO and its partners are putting forward concrete actions that governments, farmers, public sector representatives and the general public can take – from countries’ boosting social protection programmes to farmers using seeds that are more resistant to drought, to the general public supporting local food producers and adopting a healthier diet. The WFD brochure gives more facts and figures.

Currently, 821 million people – one in nine people – suffer from chronic hunger. At the same time, 1.9 billion people are overweight, including 672 million obese adults. Conflict, extreme weather events linked to climate change, economic slowdown and rapidly increasing overweight and obesity levels are reversing progress made in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. Now is the time to get back on track.