Togo/World Food Day 2024: Guaranteeing a future without hunger for all

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Extract from the article: The Ministry of Agriculture, Village Hydraulics and Rural Development, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), celebrated the 44th World Food Day (WFD) on Wednesday 16 October 2024, in conjunction with

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The Ministry of Agriculture, Village Hydraulics and Rural Development, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), celebrated the 44th World Food Day (WFD) on Wednesday 16 October 2024, in conjunction with the 28th TELEFOOD operation. The theme of the celebration was «The right to food, for a better life and a better future. Leave no one behind». The theme highlights the importance of food diversity, nutrition, affordability, accessibility, safety and sustainability, raising awareness of how a greater diversity of nutritious foods should be available in our fields, in our fishing nets, in our markets and on our tables, for the benefit of all.

Today, hunger is often exacerbated by frequent climate change, economic downturns and conflict. World Food Day 2024 focuses on solutions to ensure that everyone has sufficient, adequate and regular access to diversified, safe and nutritious food, and that no one is left behind.

«The right to food for a better life and a better future. Leaving no one behind' is a challenge to us in every respect. It highlights the urgent need to ensure that all populations, without exception, have the right to healthy and sufficient food in the current context of multidimensional crises. We need to step up our efforts to combat hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture», emphasised Konlani Dindiogue, Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Agriculture.

«The government's ambition for the agricultural sector is to make Togolese agriculture a real driver of economic growth, job creation and food and nutritional security. This means improving agricultural productivity and yields, strengthening agri-food processing industries, and improving access to finance and markets for farmers», explained Konlani Dindiogue.

World Food Day 2024 was also an opportunity for the FAO to renew its commitment with governments to guarantee and strengthen food security throughout the world.According to Oyetunde DJIWA, Programme Officer at FAO Togo, the right to food is an economic, social and cultural right.It does not mean that everyone should become a farmer, but that everyone should have the means to access sufficient and adequate food.According to the FAO's SOFI 2024 report, some 730 million people in the world suffer from hunger as a result of natural and man-made disasters, and over 2.8 billion cannot afford a healthy diet.

The FAO programme officer stressed that «the availability of food is not the main problem today, but rather its poor distribution.What is important is the collective commitment to achieve a world free from hunger. The right to food is not just a matter for states, it's for everyone: producers, young people, decision-makers. Everyone has a role to play if we are to achieve the United Nations' vision of a world where everyone has access to quality, healthy food».

Togo, through its commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 2, which aims to eliminate hunger, is proving itself to be a major player in the fight against food insecurity.

To coincide with the celebrations, the 28th TELEFOOD operation was launched.The aim of this operation, also coordinated by the FAO, is to raise funds for redistribution to producers.TELEFOOD provides financial and technical support to farmers to boost their production capacity and improve their living conditions, thereby making a direct contribution to the fight against hunger.

William O.