Every year, on 16 October, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been promoting international awareness on and mobilizing support in eradicating poverty and alleviating hunger by providing food security and nutrition, and achieving sustainable development, particularly in vulnerable farming and fishing communities. 

This year FAO Philippines celebrated World Food Day in a fitting ceremony organized in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. 

Speaking at the World Food Day event, FAO-Philippines Country Representative José Luis Fernandez said the day brings much-needed attention to the problem of hunger in the world and strengthens international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. 

Fernandez thanked the Department for leading the preparation of this year’s celebrations, signifying its continuing strong collaboration with FAO and for standing solidly with the rest of the world in the observance of World Food Day 2014.

This year’s World Food Day theme, ‘Feeding the world, caring for the earth’, was chosen to raise the profile of family farming and smallholder farmers that include small-scale fishers and indigenous communities, among others. This year has also been designated by the UN General Assembly as ‘International Year of Family Farming.’ 

“In many developing countries, family farming is still the main producer of food for billions of children, women and men.  And in the Philippines, just like the rest of Asia, family farms are the main source of rice production,” said Fernandez. 

In line with this year’s theme, FAO released a publication show-casing small-scale farmers and how they employ agricultural practices encouraging biodiversity, which leads to healthier soil and higher yields than intensive monoculture farming.  

Out of more than 570 million farms in the world, over 500 million are family owned and are responsible for at least 56 percent of agricultural production. In many developing countries, family farms represent up to 80 per cent of all farm holdings, yet they also are among the world’s most vulnerable populations. 

“Soon after typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit the Philippines almost a year ago, FAO immediately collaborated with the Department of Agriculture (DA) in restoring the farming livelihoods of tens of thousands of rice farming families in the regions affected by the typhoon,” said Fernandez.

“Without this successful and timely intervention, the affected farmers and their families would have been dependent on external food aid for almost an entire year,” Fernandez concluded.

FAO continues to work closely with the DA and its relevant bureaus, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Local Government Units (LGUs), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and other partners to help family farmers in the rice and corn, coconut and fisheries sectors in the affected regions.