Context: World Food Day is celebrated all over the world on October 16. It is an initiative by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. This global event marks a day calling for worldwide awareness and collective action to combat the issue of hunger and ensure healthy diets for all.

Aim

• To encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral, and non-governmental efforts to this end.
• To encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries and promote the transfer of technologies.
• To encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions.
• To heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world.
• To strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development.

About World Food Day

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations marks the World Food Day each year on 16 October.
• It was the day on which the FAO was founded in 1945. World Food Day was first held on 16 Oct 1981.
• World food day is also observed by organizations like World Food Programme and International Fund for Agricultural Development.
• Theme 2021: Our actions are our future- better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
• Headquarters: Rome, Italy. It maintains regional and field offices around the world, operating in over 130 countries.
• The FAO is composed of 197 member states.
• It helps governments and development agencies coordinate their activities to improve and develop agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and land and water resources.
• It also conducts research, provides technical assistance to projects, operates educational and training programs, and collects data on agricultural output, production, and development.
• The FAO is governed by a biennial conference representing each member country and the European Union, which elects a 49-member executive council.

Contribution of FAO in India

• Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has enjoyed a valuable partnership with India since it began operations in 1948.
• It continues playing a catalytic role in India’s progress in the areas of crops, livestock, fisheries, food security, and management of natural resources.
• The priorities set in the NITI Aayog’s seven-year National Development Agenda and the medium-term Three-Year Action Agenda as well as the Union Budget represent the key overarching framework for the agriculture sector.
• The main objective of the government is to double farmers’ income by solving the twin problems of maximizing efficiency and ensuring equity sustainably.

Strategic Objectives through alignment into Regional Initiatives and Regional Priorities

• Sustainable and improved agricultural productivity and increased farm incomes.
• FAO will facilitate the adaptation of Farmers Water School (FWS) in Uttar Pradesh on groundwater management to surface irrigation practices to increase crop productivity and improve water-use efficiency.
• Stronger food and nutrition security systems.
• FAO’s technical assistance will focus on providing technical assistance that drives the “Zero Hunger” initiative of FAO.
• Effective natural resource management, community development.
• FAO will implement the GEF-funded Green Agriculture project that will provide models for successful landscape approaches to address the interface of biodiversity conservation in and around key protected areas.
• Enhanced social inclusion, improved skills, and employment opportunity in the agriculture sector.
• FAO will focus on the building capacities and skills of the poor for gainful and sustainable livelihoods through employment-generating agribusiness and enterprise clusters.