World Food Day a timely reminder

TODAY, over 815 million people are suffering chronic undernourishment, according to the latest Food and Agriculture Organisation report.
Conflict, extreme weather events linked to climate change, economic slowdown and rapidly increasing obesity levels are reversing progress made in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.
Every day, people around the world find themselves in a situation where they do not have enough food to support a healthy, active lifestyle.
Papua New Guinea is no exception to this problem.
Today, we will join the rest of the world to celebrate World Food Day which falls every year on Oct 16 to mark the founding of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The day is celebrated widely by other organisations concerned with food security, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
This year’s theme is ‘Our Actions are our Future. A #ZeroHunger World by 2030 is possible’.
World Food Day will be an opportunity for Zero Hunger leaders and key global players to remind the world that Zero Hunger is still possible if we can come together and take account of lessons learnt and best practices needed.
The campaign will raise the alarm over recently increased hunger figures and call on countries and other stakeholders to get back on track.
Alluding to the Agriculture minister’s message in PNG, the key challenges to food security are poor diet, poverty and climate change.
Deficiencies in diet are caused by limited access to protein, leading to high rates of malnutrition.
Rural poverty is primarily caused by the low level of income and poor access to socio-economic services like schools, hospitals and markets.
Climate change effects, such as the El Nino-induced drought, are a common threats to Papua New Guinea and those threats reduce food supply, impacting on food security.
And the sad thing is that PNG, despite boasting huge resources and fertile land, still cannot properly and adequately feed our rural population, especially children.
Here in PNG, food security is an issue that needs to be highlighted before it reaches a crisis point.
Food security is not just a problem for the poor. It will become, increasingly, a problem for everybody.
Our fight to reduce hunger, poverty and malnutrition should be a neverending one.
We support the FAO’s developmental action that our government should create opportunities for greater private sector investment in agriculture, while boosting social protection programmes for the vulnerable and linking food producers with urban areas.
Our smallholder farmers need to adopt new, sustainable agricultural methods to increase productivity and income.
Ensuring the resilience of rural communities requires an approach that is mindful of the environment that leverages the power of technological innovation and creates stable and rewarding employment opportunities.
In spite of the importance of agriculture as the driving force in the economies of many developing countries, not just for providing food, we are of the view that this vital sector is frequently starved of investment.
It is the future of PNG we are talking about here.