World Food Day to be Observed on October 16

Jamaica like many other countries around the world, will be celebrating World Food Day tomorrow (October 16), and the theme selected for this year’s celebration is: ‘Biodiversity for Food Security’.
The Ministry of Agriculture has planned a number of events for this year’s celebration. Among them are a Church Service scheduled for October 16, commencing at 10:30 a.m. at the Kencot Seventh Day Adventist Church, 12 Osbourne Road, Kingston 10, and a ‘Work Day’ at the William Knibb High School in Trelawny on October 21.
The ‘Work Day’ will see the World Food Day Committee establishing a school garden, renovating the school’s poultry house, and planting trees near the school’s bee apiary, to facilitate continued sustenance of the bee hive.
Chairman of the World Food Day Committee, Marva Allen Simms told JIS News that planting trees close to the apiary (bee house) was one method of putting the concept of this year’s theme into practice, as plants, animals and human beings relied on each other for survival.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative to Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas, Hannah Clarendon, told JIS that “this year’s theme pays tribute to biodiversity’s role in ensuring that people have sustainable access to enough high quality food to lead active and healthy lives”.
She added that biological biodiversity was fundamental to agriculture and food production, but stressed that humans were putting increasing pressure on a number of species, thus putting them at risk. In that regard, she said it was important for the regeneration of species to take place for their continued sustenance.
The member countries of the FAO of the United Nations established World Food Day in 1979. The day marks the FAO’s constant search for a long-term solution to the problem of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in the world.
The Day was created with the ultimate goal that food should be available to all and that it should become a right for present and future generations.