UN: A World Free Of Hunger Is Imperative

Currently, more than 820 million people are hungry and over two billion are overweight and obese said Qu Dongyu, General Director of the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) at the World Food Day ceremony in Rome on Wednesday.

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Dongyu told the gathered crowd that Oct. 16 marks the 72 anniversary of the organization whose fundamental mandate is to make sure that all people have access to sufficient food for an active and healthy life, which are an essential part of the Sustainable Development Goals framed in the 2030 U.N. agenda.

The functionary also announced that based on these efforts, a world summit on food systems will be held in Rome in 2021 and in the next two years FAO's work will be focused on the promotion of healthy diets based on stronger policies and their stronger implementation.

The governments of each member nation need to expand and diversify agricultural production, create markets for producers, enhance digital technologies and marketing in agriculture, and create regulations and infrastructures so that fresh produce is more accessible to consumers.

He also pointed out the importance of ensuring that consumers have adequate information about what they eat and encouraging collective participation towards the goal of sustainable diets from an economic and environmental point of view.

At the event, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke via video and insisted on transforming food systems so that quality diets are accessible to all people and expressed that "a world free of hunger is the imperative."

Pope Francis also sent a message to the meeting saying that capitalism is the main cause behind increased famine and malnutrition on the planet.

Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, expressed the pride and satisfaction of his country for the designation of Rome as the headquarters of the Food Systems Summit in 2021, a recognition of what Italy represents on that issue and also a commitment to greater work in favor of cooperation and development based on reciprocity.​​​​​​​