World Food Day 2016 : What you must know

Did you know that streets of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome’s second largest public baths, were closed to traffic on the morning of 16th October, 2016. They were closed to host the Zero Hunger Run. The Zero Hunger Run is a competitive and non-competitive Run organised each year in celebration of the World Food Day.

The World Food Day is set apart to celebrate the creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on October 16, 1945 in Quebec, Canada.  It was first inaugurated in 1979. It marks a day where individuals come together to pledge their commitment in their own capacity to end hunger in the world. The theme of the World Food Day for this year is “Climate is changing. Food and Agriculture must too.” This was chosen to highlight the adverse effects of climate change and how it affects food security. In the light of this, this year’s campaign is geared towards raising awareness about the need for agriculture and food systems to adapt and become more resilient, productive and resilient. 

To mark the day, there was a World Food Day Ceremony on Friday, 14 October. The speakers at the Ceremony were the Director-General of the FAO, José Graziano da Silva and the Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi. Other speakers were the HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco and Macharia Kamau, United Nations Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate. There was also a special message on food security from His Holiness, Pope Francis.

Bringing this closer home, Nigeria was not left out as the Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development delivered a speech about the plans in place to make sure Nigerian farmers engage in climate-smart agriculture.

Finally, you might ask, what can I do concerning food security? Well, it’s not rocket science. All you need to do is just to change some of your daily habits. For example:

  • Don’t waste water: Stop leaky taps.
  • Don’t waste food: Buy only the amount of food you need.
  • Go organic: Buy organic food and food products.
  • Use energy efficient household appliances.
  • Convert all food waste to compost. This can be used to recycle nutrients in form of manure.
  • Reduce your use of plastics.
  • Be involved in making your community greener by planting gardens and trees.
  • Be a Climate Change Advocate: Speak at local events about climate change. If you see an interesting post on social media, share it rather than like it alone.

By doing any of the above, you can be involved in reducing climate change and creating a better world for future generations.