World Food Day to fight hunger and poverty

The destination for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) World Food Summit next month may still be under discussion but today the FAO will focus on World Food Day. "Fight hunger to reduce poverty"​ is the theme for this year's World Food Day. The Day itself marks the founding in 1945 of the United Nations body, the FAO. It has been observed for two decades in a variety of ways on every continent to heighten public awareness about global hunger and to focus attention on achieving food security for all. The keynote speaker for this year's World Food Day ceremony at FAO's Rome Headquarters is His Excellency Johannes Rau, President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Also making statements are FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf and Gianni Alemanno, Italy's Minister of Agricultural and Forestry Policies. In his World Food Day message, FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf says: "I believe it is important to recognise that hunger deserves at least the same attention as poverty when we look at global development priorities. And sadly, at the dawn of the third millennium, we are still far from ensuring that all people on the planet have enough to eat, when and where they need it."​ To our collective shame there are currently around 800 million people chronically hungry around the world. This year's World Food Day theme, "Fight Hunger to Reduce Poverty," gives voice to increasing economic evidence contained in recent FAO studies that the single most effective way to reduce poverty is to end hunger. FAO will issue the third edition of its hunger report, "The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2001," on World Food Day. The report documents progress in the fight against hunger. World Food Day was first observed by FAO in 1981. This year, more than 150 countries have planned a variety of events to mark World Food Day.