World Food Day Focuses on Sustainable Food Systems

The focus of this year's World Food Day celebration on 16 October 2013 is "Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition". A food system is composed of the environment, people, institutions, and processes involved in agricultural production and commercialization. Each part of the food system has an impact on the final availability and accessibility of diverse, nutritious foods, as well as on consumers' capacity to have healthy diets.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), around 870 million people worldwide are chronically undernourished in 2012. In order to address malnutrition, it is necessary to have integrated action and complementary interventions in agriculture and the food system, in natural resource management, in public health and education, and in broader policy domains. FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva stressed in his World Food Day message that we'll also need to ensure access to food all year round, to eliminate food wastage and child stunting while doubling smallholder production and profits.

Read more about the World Food Day celebration at http://www.fao.org/world-food-day/home/en/. Watch the FAO Director General's video message at http://www.fao.org/news/audio-video/detail-video/en/?uid=10119&wmode=1.