2019 Launch for Policies On Food, Nutrition Security
Stringent policies on Food and Nutrition Security and the Fiji Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition Security will be launched in January 2019.
The Government is aspiring to work on policy areas by adopting an integrated and cross policy approach.
Minister for Health and Medical Services Rosy Akbar highlighted this while officiating at the World Food Day national celebrations at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka yesterday.
“This focus is on national strategies, promoting synergies between social protection, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, health and education policies,” Ms Akbar said.
“These sectors all have the same goal. To lift people out of poverty and hunger so they can contribute to national development and economic growth.”
The ministry is partnering with academia and investing with the new generation as future agents of knowledge and innovation that can be channeled towards efforts to achieve zero hunger.
“Academia has a responsibility to use their knowledge to reconnect youth and students with food and what it stands for, ultimately promoting a healthier way of life,” Ms Akbar said.
Strategic partnerships with Academia and Research Institutions can generate significant and relevant information to assist government ministries and agencies address challenges faced in achieving food and nutrition security, she added.
Health is wealth
Key messages she was trying to drive through during the World Food Day 2018 launch were ways to eliminate food waste, source locally and responsibly, share your knowledge and experience, empower women and promote financial inclusion, establish new partnerships and strengthen existing linkages, be resource-efficient and champion food safety.
“Wasting less, eating better and adopting a sustainable lifestyle are keys to building a nation free of hunger, poverty and malnutrition,” Ms Akbar said.
“The choices we make today are vital for a secure future of food and nutrition.”
The theme for this year’s World Food Day celebrations is “Our Actions are our Future. A Zero Hunger world by 2030 is Possible”.
Fiji has been celebrating the World Food Day since 1981 and has joined more than 100 countries around the world in taking bold steps to address issues like hunger and malnutrition.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation celebrates World Food Day each year on October 16, the day on which the organisation was founded in 1945.
Ms Akbar thanked the other agency partners – Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Fiji, Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA).
FACT FILE
The objectives of World Food Day are to:
n Encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental efforts to this end.
n Encourage economic and technical co-operation among developing countries and encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions;
n Promote the transfer of technologies to the developing world and also strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and nutrition, and agricultural development.
Edited by Percy Kean
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