DUSHANBE, October 22, 2015, Asia-Plus — The World Food Day (WFD) and 70th anniversary of the founding Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) were celebrated worldwide on October 16.
Press release issued by FAO Country Office in Tajikistan says WFD was established in 1979, and since then been observed in almost every country by millions of people. The day is celebrated widely by many other organizations concerned with challenges of food security, including FAO sister agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), which represented in Tajikistan too.
The theme of the WFD 2015 is “Social Protection and Agriculture,” which aims to underline the role social protection plays in reducing chronic food insecurity and poverty by ensuring direct access to food or the means to buy food.
“Almost 80% of the world’s poor live in rural areas and rely mainly on agriculture for their incomes and food security. Economic growth, especially in agriculture, has been essential to driving down rates of hunger and poverty. However, economic growth does not benefit everyone,” Viorel Gutu, FAO Representative in Tajikistan said.
FAO is committed to support governments and partners in addressing the main challenges for incorporating social protection into national strategies and actions to fight hunger and in promoting greater policy coherence and synergies between social protection, food and nutrition security, agricultural development, natural resource management and rural poverty reduction.
According to V. Gutu, countries in the developing world are realizing more and more that social protection measures are needed to urgently address hunger and poverty. Studies show that in 2013, social protection measures brought approximately 150 million people out of extreme poverty.
Social protection in the form of public works program can also provide important infrastructure and community assets. Social protection is not enough. Poor and vulnerable households typically face multiple constraints and risks and rural livelihoods can be improved through joint agriculture and social protection initiatives. That is why FAO chose social protection and agriculture as the theme of World Food Day this year.
