World Food Day! A day that is celebrated every year with different themes and this year it is about “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together” which comes to the conclusion of year 2020 which was a roller coaster ride worldwide due to the global pandemic we all can say how stressful this year was for humankind. The COVID-19 global health crisis has been a chance to ponder things we really esteem and our most essential needs. These questionable times have caused a considerable lot of us to rekindle our gratefulness for a thing that some take for granted and many go without: food.
Food is the pith of life and the bedrock of our cultures and communities. Protecting admittance to safe and nutritious food is and will keep on being a fundamental aspect of the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for poor and vulnerable communities, who are hit hardest by the pandemic and coming about financial stuns.
In a moment like this, it is a higher priority than at any other time to perceive the need to help our food heroes, ranchers and laborers all through the food framework – who are ensuring that food advances from homestead to fork even in the midst of interruptions as unprecedented as the current COVID-19 emergency. In recent decades the world has made significant progress in improving agricultural productivity. Although we now produce more than enough food to feed everyone, our food systems are out of balance. Hunger, obesity, environmental degradation, loss of agro-biological diversity, food loss and waste and a lack of security for food chain workers are only some of the issues that underline this imbalance. As countries begin to develop and implement COVID-19 recovery plans, it is an opportunity to adopt innovative solutions based on scientific evidence so they can build back better and improve food systems, making them more resistant to shocks.
World Food Day is calling for global solidarity to help all populations, and especially the most vulnerable, In Pakistan our Prime Minister Imran Khan gave clear instructions to the Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan and food authorities to work together in order to recover from the crisis, and to make food systems more resilient and robust so they can withstand increasing volatility and climate shocks, deliver affordable and sustainable healthy diets for all, and decent livelihoods for food system workers. This will require improved social protection schemes and new opportunities offered through digitalization and e-commerce, but also more sustainable agricultural practices that preserve the Earth’s natural resources, our health, and the climate. In recent times Punjab Food Authority has taken the instruction way more seriously and initiated Milk Mobile Testing Labs where the milk quality can be tested free of cost, so it is a win-win situation for the general public. In this regard Chairman Punjab Food Authority Umer Butt and Director General PFA Irfan Memon efforts needs to be acknowledged. This is one small step towards betterment of food quality and betterment for people and if the pace remains same and with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan we can see a developed Pakistan in food matters in no time.
Our actions become our future, what we sow in today will make our future better or worse. The private sector and civil society need to make sure that our food systems grow a variety of food to nourish a growing population and sustain the planet, together. The role has to be for all to be played, it is not an individual task from increasing the overall demand for nutritious food by choosing healthy, to not letting sustainable habits fall by the wayside, despite these uncertain times. In today’s world where technology is mastering in every field we can take advantage from it and fulfill our needs. The key to transforming the way food is produced, processed, traded and consumed and building more resilient and robust food systems is all closing the digital gap, a potential to cover the gap between developed and developing countries, cities and rural areas, men and women, young and old. But digitalization is a distant reality for over 3 billion people in the world who lack access to internet, most of whom live in rural and remote areas. But with new gadgets we are promised to bring revolutionary changes for smallholder farmers.