On 16 October 2020, All over Italy, World Food Day was celebrated with colorful events and along with paying tribute to the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which marked the 75th founding anniversary on the same day. World Food Day is a global celebration that was initiated in 1979. Nonetheless, it takes on special significance in Italy, which crowds three United Nations (UN) food-related agencies.
The city of Milan created a sculpture made of bread to mark the day, which featured different loaves from all 20 Italian regions. The theme of a sequence of documentaries was Food, run by state broadcaster RAI; whereas two supermarket chains introduced a food collection drive to help support the country's poorest. A non-profit group founded by Italy's leading pasta maker, the Barilla Foundation, chose this day to present a new initiative encouraging sustainable diets.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte swore that Italy would prioritize anti-hunger and sustainable food initiatives when it assumes responsibility for the presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) next year. Conte also commended the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on its big anniversary, expressing Italy was "proud" to hold the organization and that it would persist to work together with FAO to confront challenging problems connected to food, hunger, and other issues.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu placed FAO's part into a historical perspective. Emphasizing history, he said that history demands we stay put with the times, reconsider our attitudes, and intensify our efforts to end hunger and poverty once and for all. With power in his words, Qu claimed that FAO is willing to create history, with the public’s confirmation, unity, and active commitment.
FAO held an online seminar to observe both World Food Day and its anniversary. The conference was attended by VIPs including the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the leaders of the further chief UN agencies in Rome.
While praising the work of the FAO and the other Rome-based agencies during the event, President Mattarella expressed his firm belief in fundamental human rights including the right to food.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) was among the agencies that produced headlines all over the world while it was bestowed with the Nobel Prize for Peace. On 16th, WFP Executive Director David Beasley employed World Food Day to feature the problem of food waste.
Beasley deduced that the country produces enough food to feed more than 7 billion people, and yet 690 million inhabitants sleep on an empty stomach every night.
Gilbert Houngbo, the president of the third UN agency based in Rome, International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), requested at the assembly for more international assistance to combat the problems of hunger.
Houngbo asserted on hunger for being an unquestionably foremost challenge in the world that remains unsolved. If people have to grow food to feed the population and sustain our planet, everyone will have to join hands to encourage the investments where they are necessitated the most.
Source: globaltimes, Fao.org