As part of the World Food Day (WFD) 2022 celebrations, FAO-Pakistan’s Provincial Office of Balochistan arranged multiple activities in close collaboration with the Government of Balochistan, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water, and Marine Sciences, and other stakeholders. WFD theme for this year; “Leave no one behind; better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life was the basis for all these activities. These celebrations were done under the GRASP Project funded by the European Union (EU) and International Trade Centre (ITC).  

The main event was celebrated in district Lasbela where FAO is responding on the ground to support flood affectees. It was observed with the support of Department of Agriculture, Water and Marine Science, Lasbela University of Agriculture, district Uthal. Mr. Waleed Mahdi, International Provincial Coordinator, FAO-Pakistan provided insight into climate change and its impacts on farmers and food systems. He also highlighted FAO’s diverse support in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, FAO’s response to the emergency and way forward to recover the agriculture and livestock sectors in flood-affected districts.

An awareness walk was also organized with the students and faculty of the University. Professor Dr. Dost Mohammad, Vice Chancellor and Dr. Jalal Faiz, Pro-Vice Chancellor, deans of different faculties, academia, youth, program beneficiaries, and people from civil society participated in this walk.

For mass public awareness, FAO collaborated with local transporters and shop keepers. Banners containing awareness raising messages in local language were displayed on rickshaws, buses, fruit pushcarts, and at other high visibility spots.

Another activity comprised of various art contests with differently abled children based on the theme of this year. The art contest provided these children with an opportunity to paint the value of food, take steps towards minimizing food wastage, and share food with neighbors and friends.

In one such event, Mr. Juma Khan, Director of Special Education also participated as chief guest and appreciated the efforts by FAO for raising awareness and conducting different activities, especially for differently abled children. Children also received certificates, fruit baskets, mugs, and shields.

FAO’s Balochistan International Coordinator and regional team also visited a date processing unit in district Panjgur. During this visit, the team apprised the date producers of FAO’s technical support in the context of increasing processing unit’s capacity for washing, drying, and packing of processed table dates of different varieties and discussed about FAO’s support to the processing unit to reduce post-harvest losses through the provision of plastic crates to the farmers at the farm gate.

Activities with farmers were also arranged through awareness sessions conducted in different districts of Balochistan. To create better linkages for the farmers, meetings with restaurant owners were arranged to promote sustainable market linkages. Local restaurants require low volume than the high-end markets and pay better. Since, most of the FAO beneficiaries are smallholder farmers; it is easier for them also to meet the demands of these restaurant owners.

Potential female farmers from districts Quetta and Pishin were trained on “Entrepreneurship Skills” through a two-day training workshop.  Training contents focused on sensitizing these women farmers on effective means to operate successful agricultural enterprises. Main topics included; using value chain approach in agribusiness, required backward and forward market linkages, and development of marketing and business plans.

Another training session on the Farmer Field School (FFS) was held at Chasma Achozai, district Quetta. Ms. Sadia Siddiqui, FAO Horticulture Specialist briefed the participants on the FFS approach, its fundamental principles, brief history and key elements. EU delegation led by Mr. Stephen Langrell, Ms. Enrica and Chief of Sector and Enterprise at ITC, Mr. Robert Skidmore were also present at this session.

A radio show was organized to spread the message on a broader level in order to sensitize the public and rural communities on how everybody has a role to play in transforming our food systems by changing the way we produce, consume, and waste our food.