Post date: Oct 15, 2010 11:8:46 AM
Delegates have begun arriving at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, ahead of World Food Day, to discuss why one billion people in the world are still suffering from hunger.
ROME, ITALY (OCTOBER 15, 2010) REUTERS - Delegates gathered at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO) Rome headquarters on Friday (October 15) in an effort to urge world leaders to invest heavily in food security and relieve the one billion people who go hungry every day.
Attending the meeting in Rome were some illustrious stars of cinema and music. U.S. actress Susan Sarandon and Philippine musician Lea Salonga will be named as Goodwill Ambassadors for FAO later in the day and they were joined by Indonesian musician Anggun.
"This year's celebration marks the thirtieth World Food Day, a day that has been consistently observed around the world over the last three decades," FAO Director General Jacques Diouf told delegates.
"It was observed for the first time on October 16, 1981 following a U.N. General Assembly resolution recognising that food is a requisite for human survival and well being and a fundamental human necessity," he added.
On Saturday (October 16) World Food Day will be marked around the world but the FAO warns that even though the food crisis of 2008 is in the past, an inherent structural problem in the production of food remains and that another food crisis could hit again if the necessary investment is not forthcoming.
"I believe that if we want to make any progress after thirty years of celebrating World Food Day we should be looking at the impact of all that we have been doing in terms of getting people out of poverty," said the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Kanayo Nwanze.
"To what extent are we investing in agriculture and rural development? I think that is a measure of our success. The number of people that have been moved out of poverty as a result of massive investment into agriculture and rural development in developing countries," Nwanze added.
"The figures of the numbers that are hungry every day does not tell us that we are making progress and so governments all over the world must give agriculture and rural development the top priority in their development agenda," he warned.
Tens of millions of people have been pushed into hunger in Pakistan, Haiti and the Sahel countries in Africa. Many receive support from groups such as the World Food Programme who hand out rations of high energy biscuits, high nutritional food for infants and young children. But the real aim of United Nations food agencies is to make the world's hungry self-sufficient in food.