World Food Day 2017: The Goal of 'Zero Hunger'

FAO Aims to Fulfill 'Zero Hunger' Challenge by 2030

In June 2012, the UN Secretary-General announced the most-needed global challenge for world leaders and individuals from other sectors which emphasizes to create a world where no one is hungry. Sadly, there is enough food in this world to feed the entire global population, but ensuring access to all people worldwide is the main challenge that needs to be tackled with brilliance. The World Food Day happens on October 16^th every year to commemorate the founding of the United Nations Organization in 1945. This day is a good opportunity to play our role properly in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, whose main focus is to achieve Zero Hunger by the year 2030.

The five pillars of the Zero Hunger Challenge include:

1. 100-percent availability and accessibility of nutritious food all through the year to people worldwide by the year 2030.
2. Arrest stunting among kids under the age of five by 2025, end any form of malnutrition by the year 2030 and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.
3. Create sustainable food practices by the year 2030 and undertake strong agricultural practices that increase productivity and production.
4. Prioritizing the development of farmers of small-sized farms by 2030 who contribute to four-fifths of the developing world’s foods. This means, doubling the productivity and income of small-scale farmers, predominantly women, indigenous people, fishers, etc. through equal access to land and resources and empowering them with the knowledge and opportunities in this field.
5. Restrict food waste and post-harvest losses.

Participation of Every Individual Counts

Even though the governments play the main role in the Zero Hunger Challenge, individuals too can contribute to it:

• Take care that children and pregnant women receive the much-needed nutritious foods. Are you aware of what counts as ‘nutritious foods’ in the case of pregnant women and children? Find your answers at www.firsteatright.com.
• Avoid food wastage by buying only the foods that you need and taking care to use it before the ‘best by’ date.
• Improve the quality of life of local farmers, support local economy and be a part of the eco-friendly agriculture by purchasing from the farmers market.
• Raise your voice for fair food policies that can be advantageous for small farmers and sustainable agriculture.

State of the World

With more than enough food produced every day to feed the entire world population, millions of people (815 million to be precise) live with undernourishment and malnutrition affects one in three individuals in the planet. The population is steadily increasing and is estimated to reach around 10 billion by 2050. The main challenge now is to ensure good quality of food to all people to lead a nutritional and healthy life. Pollution, insufficient global health practices, land and biodiversity degradation and deteriorating natural resource base are the most common challenges faced while striving to achieve this food goal.

Food production must double in developing countries and increase nearly by 50% in other countries to meet the food need of another two billion people in 2050. While nurturing the planet is a huge task at hand, nourishing more people simultaneously is an even greater challenge. This dual target can be met by transforming food and agricultural systems, following sustainable and diversified consumption and production and improving governance.

Meeting the targets of the Zero Hunger challenge is the main aim of the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN and the FAO collaborates with governments and partners to focus completely on food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture in public policies.