Strengthening Food Systems for Healthy Diets at the Seventh National Nutrition Day
The 7th National Nutrition Day (NND) for Cambodia conducted in Kampong Cham Province on 25 November 2020 was organized by the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) under the theme “Strengthening Food Systems for Healthy Diets”. The theme was carefully chosen to introduce new approaches to improving nutrition in Cambodia, which are relevant to dealing with undernutrition, micro-nutrient deficiencies and to problems with overweight and obesity. The concept of food systems is relatively new to Cambodia, as for many countries, yet it is a growing topic of interest globally for fighting malnutrition and dealing with other challenges. Over the year to come, the Kingdom of Cambodia will conduct a National Dialogue in preparation for a Food Systems Summit in 2021. The Dialogues are a global initiative launched by the UN Secretary General to accelerate collective action. FAO Cambodia will join other UN Agencies, development partners and the Civil Society Alliance Cambodia (CSA) in supporting the Royal Government of Cambodia in this initiative throughout the year.
FAO Representative to Cambodia, Mr Alexandre Huynh stated that "FAO is well placed to accompany food systems transformation in Cambodia. FAO’s support extends from the protection of the natural resource base, the farm families and agricultural laborers, the small and medium sized enterprises in agribusiness and processing – right through to the wellbeing of consumers and understanding the choices they make, the demand-side of food systems. FAO is also actively supporting the policy and regulatory environments for food production, processing and consumption in Cambodia, for healthy diets for all."
The objectives of the Seventh NND were to bring together relevant ministries and institutions, development partners, civil society and the private sector to increase awareness of the importance of food systems and to promote system changes that will contribute to improved food security and nutrition for all Cambodians.
The event commenced with a welcome to Kampong Cham for the Provincial Governor HE Un Chanda, followed by a brief history of the NND in Cambodia delivered by HE Sok Silo, Secretary General of CARD. The Samdech Prime Minister’s Message was read by HE Ngy Chanphal, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Interior and Vice-chair of CARD. Samdech Hun Sen emphasised that: ‘In the context of this pandemic, Cambodia has not only been able to avoid the food crisis that some countries in the world have experienced, but Cambodia has also seized this opportunity to strengthen our food systems by introducing various measures to strengthen agriculture and food industries as a foundation for economic recovery, to produce and supply quality and safe agricultural and food products to local and global markets.’ Full text in Khmer at https://youtu.be/qRUWlxaieEA
The Prime Minister made the strong commitment that ‘no Cambodian citizen will die from hunger as long as the Government still stands.’ The Prime Minister’s message included instructions to provincial governments that a Nutrition Day following the theme of the NND should be conducted in each province, and that every province is to boost the engagement of youth in nutrition.
Representatives of the Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement made congratulatory remarks. In recognising achievements made by Cambodia to combat under-nutrition over the past 15 years, Mr John Derrick, Regional Director of Helen Keller International (HKI), speaking on behalf of the SUN CSA Cambodia, warned that ‘…diets and behaviours are changing, leading to rising rates of obesity and overweight, which puts added stress on the health system and the national economy. Nearly one-third of all women in Cambodia is overweight or obese.’
Ms Claire Conan, Representative and Country Director of WFP spoke on behalf of the UN Network to explain the meaning and importance of healthy diets and food systems for the audience. She encouraged nutrition champions at all levels and especially addressed the youth in the audience in asking that they help to strengthen food systems and promote the consumption of healthy diets. ’You are the future agents of change, the key-decision-makers, the care-providers of tomorrow and the main beneficiaries of healthy lifestyles.’
She joined with the Prime Minister and HE Yim Chhay Ly, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of CARD in asking all participants to do everything possible to ‘…provide youth with education in this respect and to engage them in these responsibilities as much as we can.’
The congratulatory remarks were followed by comments from HE Veng Sakhon, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries who presented information on the strong performance of the sector in terms of increased output and diversity of food production in Cambodia and linking a healthy diet to good health outcomes.
In his speech, H.E Yim Chhay Ly, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of CARD, commended this year NND’s theme which is responding well to the current situation when Cambodia and countries around the world are confronted with impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is affecting income generation and increasing malnutrition risk among children. In this respect, attention to strengthening food systems is the timely approach. The food systems is a complex web between processes, packaging, distribution, storage, market, consumption as well as user behaviour. Sustainable food systems will ensure food security and nutrition for us all now as well as in the future, meaning that sustainable food systems must ensure sustainable socio-economic and environmental outcomes.
After the ceremony, participants visited booths that different development partners and NGOs set up to show their work on food security and nutrition. FAO assisted members of a Women’s Producer Group (WPG) established by the Life and Nature Project in Stoung District in Kampong Thom Province to display citrus fruit and seedlings from their nursery. The WPGs supported by Life and Nature Project are aimed at empowering women farmers by improving decision-making and livelihood diversification opportunities at commune level.