FAO calls on governments and organizations to commit to guaranteeing the right to food in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (FAO) held the World Food Day commemoration event, which was led by the FAO's Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mario Lubetkin; the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Chile, María José Torres Macho; the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic, Eulalio Ramírez;  and the president of the Parliamentary Front against Hunger and Malnutrition of the Chile chapter, Deputy Carolina Marzán.

The United Nations established October 16 as World Food Day in recognition of the creation of the FAO in 1945. This year, the celebration theme is "The right to food for a better life and future", where the Organization seeks to highlight that food is the third most basic human need after air and water, so everyone should have the right to adequate food.

"We must promote healthy, nutritious, and affordable diets. We cannot simply produce more food; we must ensure that it is nutritious, diverse, and accessible to all. The right to food is not only an aspiration, but a commitment that governments, and organizations such as FAO, have a responsibility to make a reality," Lubetkin stated during the commemoration, emphasizing the institution's permanent mission to ensure safe, diverse, and nutritious food.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Chile, María José Torres Macho, highlighted the need to consider the occasion as something more than a date on the calendar and called attention to its deep meaning. "This World Food Day is also the birthday of FAO, one of the agencies that was one of the first to be created in the United Nations system. This tells us that those who thought of this system saw the immediate connection between peace and food security for the people of the planet.

We have 700 million reasons to think that people must reach the Zero Hunger goal, 41 million living in Latin America," she said.

Deputy Minister Eulalio Ramírez stressed the need to become aware of the role of food in human life and the importance of contributing to the transformation of agri-food systems.

At the same time, Deputy Carolina Marzán emphasized the work on the ground to promote nutritious, diverse, and healthy food consumption behaviors, especially in children and older adults.

World Food Day is commemorated with activities around the world with a call to action in more than 50 languages for more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agri-food systems that guarantee people's right to nutritious food.

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This story was first published to the website of FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.