Hyderabad: World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16th with the aim of spreading awareness about the need for a healthy diet around the world, making efforts to ensure the availability of food to every person, and for economic progress through agriculture. Food is the greatest need of our body. But there are still a large number of people around the world who do not get enough food every day.
Although the struggle against malnutrition and efforts to meet the need for a healthy diet for every person is done in almost all the countries of the world, both at the government and private level, but still a large number of people need it due to different reasons. There is no supply of food in the required quantity.
Access to healthy food for every hungry and needy person, reduction of food wastage, and increased efforts in promoting food production and agriculture on a large or small scale, for these purposes and to create global awareness and action, World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16th. In the year 2022, this day is being celebrated around the theme “Leave No One Behind”.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations first started celebrating World Food Day on 16 October 1979 with the aim of tackling global hunger and attempting to eradicate hunger around the world. Earlier food was recognized as a common right by the United Nations. But recognizing the need for a healthy diet for every person, in the year 1945, the United Nations recognized food as a special right for all.
The purpose of celebrating this day is not only to make efforts for the availability of food for every person but also to increase awareness among the people about the production and use of healthy food. Apart from this, on this day, there is also a discussion and effort to discuss the possibilities regarding food production, marketing, and import-export, which will also benefit the economy of many countries of the world.
While our country comes second in the world in food production, India comes first in the production of pulses, rice, wheat, fish, milk, and vegetables. But still, a large population in our country is suffering from malnutrition. According to the data, in the year 2021, 768 million people in the world were found to be victims of malnutrition. Out of which 22.4 crores i.e. about 29% were Indians.
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According to these figures published in the United Nations 'The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022' report, more than 97 crore people in India i.e. about 71 percent of the country's population are unable to afford nutritious food. There have been some differences among the people regarding the results of this report. But it cannot be denied that nutritious food is not available to a large number of people in many countries of the world.
It has also been told in this report of the United Nations that not only 70.5 percent of Indians but 84% of Nepalese and 83.5% of Pakistan are unable to consume a healthy diet. Data from some other countries were also given in this report, according to which about 12% of China, 19% of Brazil, and 49% of Sri Lankan people are unable to eat a healthy diet.
Another report on the same subject said that 99% of the world's malnourished people live in developing countries. At the same time, about 20 million babies are born with low birth weight every year, of which about 96.5% are from developing countries. Cases of malnutrition are more common in women and children. Malnutrition is believed to be responsible for 50% of the total deaths of children even at birth and at an early age (below 5 years). At the same time, about 60% of women worldwide are victims of malnutrition.
Experts believe that the supply of healthy food to the common man is a global problem that many countries of the world are facing. The reduction in food production is not the main reason for this problem, but many factors are responsible, including inflation, poverty, social inequality, changes in the environment, epidemics, and war-like situations.
Every year on the occasion of World Food Day, a variety of awareness programs and campaigns are organized to spread awareness about the health hazards associated with unsafe food, to ensure economic prosperity and growth in agriculture. Such as spreading awareness about food banks providing food to the needy at the local level and such government and private schemes that provide food to the needy, leftover food like food waste, or making good compost from vegetable and fruit peels to support farming not only on a large scale but also on a small scale, to motivate them to make kitchen gardens in their own land or pots according to the availability of space in their homes, and to raise financial help for such people who are not able to buy food as needed, etc.
According to the available food data, enough food is produced on our planet that can fill the stomach of all people and living beings. But around the world, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year due to different reasons, which is about 20% of the total food produced. If people use food carefully and avoid its wastage, then the number of people sleeping hungry can be greatly reduced. World Food Day is an occasion that can be used to reduce the wastage of food and generate livelihood for people and encourage them in the field of food production.
